Michael Beale makes Rangers plea to SPFL schedulers after 2 injury blows as he rules Alex Lowry out of Hearts semi final

Michael Beale insists the SPFL schedulers should be doing more to help Premiership clubs after suffering two more injuries as his Rangers side set up a Viaplay Cup semi-final clash against Hearts.

The Light Blues boss saw the pressure ease on him thanks to a 4-0 rout of Livingston at Ibrox with Abdallah Sima netting the opener and a deflected strike for his side’s third goal while Ridvan Yilmaz and Ryan Jack also got in on the scoring act.

But Yilmaz was forced off after his cracker while Kemar Roofe also stayed in at half-time with a groin strain and Beale reckons his side’s clash with Aberdeen this weekend could have been pushed back to help, with both clubs having been involved in Europe recently as well as League Cup quarter final action. Beale - who revealed on-loan Jambo Alex Lowry won’t be able to face Gers in the last four after firing Steven Naismith’s men to Hampden with the winner against Kilmarnock 24 hours earlier - told Viaplay: “Kemar Roofe felt his groin midway through the first half and has a slight problem

"He probably should have asked to come off so we’ve had that chat and Ridvan is a touch of cramp. That’s the third game in seven days and Aberdeen will be the fourth in 10.

The only thing is the games have been at home but that’s hard on our fans financially. It’s not the schedule we make so we have to get on with it but if we look at the amount of injuries that will happen in these games or the three or four after it, could our game against Aberdeen been moved back 24 hours because they travelled to Germany and went to Dingwall. If want to see the product on the pitch we need to protect our players more.”

On taking on Hearts in November, he said: “Alex Lowry our boy went there and scored a