Smith in dark over Miller future

16 January 2011 07:00

Walter Smith insists he has "no idea" whether Kenny Miller has played his last game for Rangers as they cruised to a 4-0 win over Hamilton in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League.

The striker has been holding talks with Birmingham and Fiorentina after failing to agree a new deal with the Scottish champions, but was back in the starting line-up for the clash at Ibrox. Miller - with 22 goals already this season - failed to find the back of the net as Rangers closed the gap on SPL leaders Celtic to five points with three games in hand.

Asked whether he expects Miller to have played his last match for the Glasgow giants, Smith said: "No idea. It was a difficult game for strikers. There wasn't a lot of space to operate and a lot of the chances were coming from the wider areas or the middle of the park as it was a bit congested in there."

He added: "Kenny and Kyle Lafferty had to work hard to find space so it was difficult for the strikers."

Smith had hoped to see Nikica Jelavic make his long-awaited return from injury after the striker was named on the bench for the first time since being sidelined in October.

But, having already used two substitutes, Smith was forced to throw Richard Foster into the action instead when fellow full-back Sasa Papac limped off with 20 minutes to go.

"Papac came off injured so best laid plans," he said. "Maurice Edu managed to get on and we wanted Jelavic to get some game-time. That was the plan but Papac came off and that's not what we wanted.

"He has a groin injury which isn't too serious but he is a doubt for Tuesday night against Inverness."

Vladimir Weiss stole the show when he grabbed a double and won a penalty, that was converted by Steven Whittaker, before Edu sealed the win late on.

Smith said: "Weiss played very well. When the opposition are set out in that manner, sometimes it takes something a bit special and his first goal was excellent. He then got the penalty and scored another goal so I am delighted for him. Consistency as much as anything else is probably the main thing for him now."

Source: PA