STEVEN GERRARD is confident Jordan Jones will learn from his costly moment of madness in the Old Firm defeat to Celtic after he was ruled out of action for at least a month.
The Northern Irishman made his first appearance in the famous fixture as a late replacement for Joe Aribo but was sent off in the closing stages of a 2-0 defeat for Gerrard's side.
A needless and crass late lunge on Moritz Bauer earned Jones a straight red card from referee Bobby Madden but there were more serious repercussions as he sustained a knee injury in the challenge on the Austrian.
That ruled the winger out of Northern Ireland's friendly win over Luxembourg and European Championship qualifier defeat to Germany.
Jones will miss the visit of Livingston in the Premiership this afternoon and he has also been omitted from Rangers' Europa League squad for the matches with Young Boys, Feyenoord and Porto in Group G.
Bauer revealed earlier this week that Jones had phoned him to apologies for the challenge and Ibrox boss Gerrard knows the forward, who moved on a free from Kilmarnock this summer, will be counting the cost in the coming weeks.
Gerrard said: “It’s a frustrating one but Jordan has moved on from it and I’ve moved on from it. It’s a disappointing one for both of us. He got a tackle in the first few minutes after he came on in the Old Firm game and he’s got an ankle problem from that.
"Then in getting the red card, he flared up a knee issue.
“So he has two issues he is managing at the moment and I don’t think you will see him for, best case, a month. Maybe it will be a little bit longer than that.
“It’s frustrating for me because he’d been in good form. Unfortunately he’s not going to be available for the foreseeable future when we have some really big fixtures. But I’ve chatted to Jordan, we are going to move on and hopefully get him back as soon as possible.
“He will learn from it because he’s going to have to watch games. Players don’t like being injured, they want to go out and play.
“There’s nothing worse than sitting in the stands, especially when Feyenoord are coming to town and you have a Europa League run along with big domestic fixtures when every point is important.
"Jordan is a Rangers fan and I know he’ll be desperate to be involved. So I’m sure he will learn from it.”
The loss of Jones isn't the only injury blow that Gerrard has suffered since the Old Firm defeat that saw Rangers beaten for the first time this term and fall three points adrift at the top of the Premiership.
The Gers boss revealed on Thursday that Ryan Jack is a major doubt for the Livingston clash after he exacerbated a long-standing knee issue during training with Scotland last week.
And left-back Jon Flanagan is also on the Light Blues' injured list after going under the knife to cure a hernia problem over the Premiership shutdown.
Gerrard said: “He previously had a hernia op on the right side, which we got him back from. We checked the other side and it was all fine but then it flared up a touch. So during the international break he went in and had the other side done. He’s not far away - probably about 10 days.”
Gerrard could give Ryan Kent his second Ibrox debut this afternoon after he completed his £7million move from Liverpool on deadline day.
But the 39-year-old has dismissed speculation linking him with a move for former Juventus star Claudio Marchisio.
Reports in Italy have credited Rangers with an interest in the 33-year-old but Gerrard said: “I’m not aware of that. It’s just another name that gets bandied about. He is a fantastic player - I played against him. I love the player but there is no truth in that.”
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