RANGERS midfielder Ryan Jack travelled to London this week in an attempt to cure the calf problem that continues to rule him out of action for club and country.

The 29-year-old has not featured for Steven Gerrard's side since the win over Dundee United in February and was forced to withdraw from the Scotland squad for last week's World Cup qualifiers with Austria, Israel and the Faroe Islands.

James Tavernier has stepped up his recovery programme in recent days but Ibrox assistant Gary McAllister has ruled Jack out of the Scottish Cup clash with Cove Rangers on Sunday.

McAllister said: "The positive on Tav is that he is back on the grass and that was nice to see [on Thursday]. He is out there training on his own with the physios and stuff. That is a bit positive and he is getting closer and closer.

"Ryan has been in London the last couple of days to see some specialists so we are waiting for the results coming back up from London on that visit. It is just further investigations to try and get to the bottom of Ryan’s problem. We will wait for the results of that."

Glasgow Times: Ryan Jack

The visit of Cove this weekend sees Rangers kick-off their cup campaign as they bid to complete a double this term following their Premiership title success.

Rangers could look to utilise their squad depth for the Ibrox fixture and McAllister said: "That is something that we have looked at this week and we will evaluate everything once the international guys come back to see how they are looking.

"There will be an opportunity for players to get minutes but we feel that we won’t be picking a weakened side or an understrength side.

Glasgow Times: Rangers assistant manager Gary McAllister

"We feel this is going to be a really competitive game, they are a team that are going really well, sitting second in the league and are pushing for promotion.

"It will be very competitive so we are giving this game our full attention and we want to try and get through the tie."