Rangers vs. Annan preview; team news; probable line-up

Following Saturday's 2-0 win over Motherwell in the Betfred Cup Rangers will look to build on their impressive second half showing when Annan Athletic are the visitors to Ibrox on Tuesday night. With Mark Warburton effectively using the group stages of the competition to tune-up his first team squad there will be changes to the starting XI. Warburton has already confirmed that Josh Windass, Matt Gilks, Clint Hill and Lee Hodson should all start against the Galabankies which will likely see Jason Holt, Wes Foderingham, Rob Kiernan and goal-scorer James Tavernier all make way. Another new signing who should feature is Joey Barton. The former Burnley man is a few weeks behind his teammates in terms of his fitness levels and a place on the bench is most likely.

Despite coming off the bench yesterday and immediately causing half of Scotland fall in love with him, Niko Kranjcar is still a little away from being fully match fit and may come off the bench (possibly alongside Barton) for another half-hour cameo appearance as work continues ahead of the Premiership opener on August 6th. Michael O'Halloran could have played himself into a starting place after coming off the bench and impressing at Fir Park. O'Halloran has had an underwhelming start to his Ibrox career but hopefully with 6 months under his belt and become more accustomed to the style of play demanded by Warburton the former Scotland under-21 cap will push on and stake a claim for a regular start.

The club are also hopeful that Joe Dodoo's move from Leicester City is completed in time for the young forward to take his Ibrox bow. A deal has been agreed with the Ghana hopeful and the clubs now need to agree terms over a development fee, believed to be around £250,000, for the player. Warburton sees Dodoo more as a central striker rather than a winger where he has typically played for Leicester's U21 side and feels he can bring something a little different to the Rangers front line.

Opponents Annan come into the game on the back of a 2-1 loss at home to Stranraer in their opening group game. Two second half goals were enough for Stranraer to feel they had done enough to secure the points before a late goal from former Rangers youth player Przemyslaw Dachnowicz sparked a frantic finale. Unfortunately for Annan they couldn't get an equaliser ahead of the far more daunting prospect of a trip to Ibrox.

REMINDER: Tuesday's game isn't on TV so the only way to see it is to get along to Ibrox. Tickets are available HERE from £10 for adults and £5 for kids and concessions