MICHAEL BEALE is confident a week of rest and new faces at Ibrox will breath fresh life into his Rangers squad that are 'running on empty' this term.

Rangers progressed to the last 16 of the Scottish Cup with a 1-0 win over St Johnstone on Saturday night as Borna Barisic netted the only goal of the game.

Beale refused to be drawn on transfer talk as he seeks to clinch deals for Morgan Whittaker of Swansea and Standard Liege midfielder Nicolas Raskin in the coming days.

Todd Cantwell is also poised to make the switch to Ibrox and the transfer business will be a welcome boost to the squad that is still short on numbers due to the Ibrox injury crisis.

Beale said: “Quietly we’ve been scoring good goals, which hasn’t really been picked up on. That’s Fashion at his best, driving into the box. It was fantastic for Borna and it came at the right time for us.

“It’s been a tough week and we were running on empty a bit. The same players have given me a lot. I don’t think it would help the team if I rotated too much.

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“We’re not in that position of strength yet. We’ve got a free week now before St Johnstone again at Ibrox.

“Out of the nine games since I arrived, six have been away from Ibrox so the schedule hasn’t been kind to me.

"We will be strengthening, players will come back. Antonio was on the bench today if we needed a penalty or needed five minutes.

"If I can get Antonio fit and playing with Alfredo I think it will add a different dimension. Scott Wright came on tonight and thought he was excellent. Ryan Kent and Fashion are giving me every single ounce of energy they've got.

"In time new players will come in, we'll get more players fit and we'll look stronger. But I tell you what, the results ain't too bad."