Broadfoot has battled back to fitness after an eight-month lay-off

Rangers defender Kirk Broadfoot reckons he is in the best shape of his career now that his eight-month rehabilitation from surgery is coming to an end.

Broadfoot played half of a closed-doors game against Ayr United on Tuesday, his first since the Co-operative Insurance Cup final against Celtic in March.

It follows an operation to remove part of the bone in his left foot.

"Fitness-wise it's probably the best I've ever felt," the 25-year-old told the Rangers website.

Broadfoot partnered Madjid Bougherra in central defence in a game which Rangers won 4-0 thanks to goals from Nacho Novo, Jamie Ness, Kyle Lafferty and Andrew Little.

But although he is delighted to be back playing, albeit just for the first half of the game at Murray Park, the former St Mirren defender does not know when he will next feature in the first 11.

"I can't set a target for getting back in the first team because I might feel I'm ready but the manager doesn't," the Scotland international said.

"So for now I'm happy with reserve games and when the coaches do decide I'm ready to be part of the first team, I'll be delighted.

"The last few weeks have been really hard and I've been doing probably the toughest training of my life.

There have been highs and lows along the way because it's a strange injury but, hopefully, this is the end of it now Kirk Broadfoot

"I've been running all day every day and I had a hard day training the day before the game and came in from that and was told I would be playing."

After such a long spell on the sidelines, Broadfoot was keen to play the whole match but was prevented from doing so by Rangers' medical staff.

He added: "To be honest, the training has been harder than the game was and when I came off at half-time I really wanted to go back out.

"But the physios put their foot down and I'm just delighted to get 45 minutes under my belt.

"All the work has been about getting back to play and I hope now that I don't have any reaction after the game and I can go and train with the boys again.

"There have been highs and lows along the way because it's a strange injury but, hopefully, this is the end of it now."

Despite his central defensive role against Ayr, Rangers boss Walter Smith has often deployed Broadfoot at right back and his return to the squad will mean competition for places among Steven Whittaker, David Weir, Bougherra and Danny Wilson.

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