ALLY McCoist has insisted Rangers can maintain their push for the SPFL Championship despite losing keeper Cammy Bell for the rest of 2014.

Bell, blow, dislocated his injured shoulder in training at Murray Park on Thursday and has been ruled out of action for another three months.

The former Scotland keeper was outstanding for the Gers as they went undefeated in League One in his debut season at Ibrox. And his loss is a serious blow to the Glasgow club's hopes of landing the second tier title and competing in the cup competitions.

However, McCoist has been impressed stand-in goalie Steve Simonsen's displays in recent weeks.

The experienced English player has kept clean sheets in the Light Blues last two games against Raith Rovers and Inverness Caledonian Thistle. And the Gers boss is also confident that Lee Robinson, who he signed last month, can also do a job for the first team.

McCoist said: "It's bad news about Cammy, but not totally unexpected because when he went to see the specialist, he did say that it could go again.

"The specialist said there is an opportunity for him to build his shoulder up and he thought that he might get away with it.

"We took that option, but sadly it went in training. So he's going to get an operation hopefully early next week which will put him out for three months anyway.

"It just happened in training. There was no collision, he just came to collect a cross and fell awkwardly. It's better going now, rather than during a game or four weeks down the line.

"It will definitely be into the New Year for Cammy. It's not great for him. But if you can take any positives out of it, big Steve has come in and done well and we've got Lee Robinson in as back-up so that has proved a sensible thing for us to do."

He added: "This is the reason we brought these players in. Particularly in that position, you have to get cover. It's arguably the most important position on the park.

"It's a specialised position. You cannot take any chances at all there and that's why we got Steve in last year and it's why we brought him back in again this year.

"And that's why we brought Lee Robinson in too so he can compete with Steve for a place. What happened with Cammy proves we needed to do that."

Elsewhere, McCoist has revealed that striker Kenny Miller has made good progress from the calf injury that ruled him out of the game against Raith Rovers last week.

However, the Championship game with Alloa at the Indodrill Stadium this afternoon will come too soon for the former Scotland internationalist.