WALTER SMITH today hinted that Neil Alexander will stay in goal for tomorrow's Co-operative Insurance Cup clash with Partick Thistle at Firhill.

The Rangers gaffer made the shock decision to drop No.1 Allan McGregor and replace him with Alexander for the 2-1 SPL weekend win over Motherwell.

Smith explained the reasons behind that move, stating he wanted to keep everyone in his large squad sharp and on their toes.

And when asked what decision would be made on who starts at Firhill, Smith insisted: "A manager stands and falls by his decisions, whatever they are. It is a matter of who I feel is best suited at the present.

"It is not a question of Allan having to win back the gloves. It is just a question of him recapturing the form of last season. That will be good enough for us - and then I will have another decision to make."

Smith will not go down the road of many top English clubs by starting experimental line-up's in these ties, and will field his strongest selection for the duration of this season's Co-op cup defence. The Ibrox side played in 30 cup ties at home and abroad during last term's 68-game marathon season.

And amid the fixture chaos and injury carnage caused by the fixture pile up, Smith was forced to mix and match at times.

But on the eve of the short trip across the city he added: "I think sometimes when you have European games maybe the competition is not as important.

"But we don't have these matches this season and we want to as well as we can.

"Thistle gave us problems at Ibrox in the Scottish Cup last season.

"And then it took a decent performance from us to get through the replay at Firhill.

"So we will be fielding our strongest side and changes will be kept to a minimum of one or two.

"It is fortunate that we have strength in depth because, due to illness and injury, we need to use the full number of players available in our group.

"So the team will be much along the same lines as the one I sent out for the Motherwell game.

"We have long-term injuries, and Steven Whittaker is now out with a knee injury.

"He may require a minor knee operation, we are not quite certain yet. But, if he does, he will obviously be out for the next few matches.

"But we have a strong squad and we have no fixture congestion this year so if any of the young players are picked it will be because they deserve to be picked."

Kyle Lafferty will feature if he manages to shake off the after-affects of an operation to remove a wisdom tooth.

Smith rates the Northern Ireland man as doubtful, but he did some light training and hopes to be involved at some stage.

Striker Andrius Velicka is out after being hit with a sickness bug and joins long term crocks Barry Ferguson, Lee McCulloch, Stevie Smith and Steven Naismith on the absentee list.