NICKY Clark today vowed to play his way back into the Rangers team after being ousted by Kris Boyd and Kenny Miller.

Clark has this season enjoyed his best spell of form since joining the Ibrox club in summer 2013 and has netted three times in the league.

However, the 23-year-old was left out of the starting line-up in the SPFL Championship game against Raith Rovers at Ibrox on Saturday.

Gers boss Ally McCoist preferred both Boyd and Miller, who each netted in an emphatic 6-1 win, to the former Queen of the South man. But Clark was given the nod to play up front in the Petrofac Training Cup quarter-final against East Fife in Methil on Tuesday.

He helped set up Jon Daly for the opening goal and won the free-kick that Ian Black netted.

Clark admitted he will be looking to add to his tally for the 2014/15 campaign soon and give his gaffer a serious selection headache.

He said: "Any player would feel disappointed to be left out. But Kenny and Kris had been doing well, so I just need to get my head down and keep working hard.

"I've been happy with the way I've been playing. I'm not disappointed. It's just football for you.

"We have loads of good players at the club who have international caps and you have to expect boys like that to come in and play.

"You have got to keep working hard and hope your chance comes. That is what I intend to do in training and in the games we have coming up."

There will be plenty of opportunities for Clark to get into the first team in the weeks ahead with league and cup matches coming thick and fast.

Rangers face Dumbarton away in the Championship on Saturday, St Johnstone in the League Cup on Tuesday and Dumbarton away again in the Scottish Cup four days later.

Clark said: "We earned ourselves another game by winning against East Fife and it was good to get 75 minutes. Hopefully, I have done enough to get another start.

"It would have been great to go and score a few goals but East Fife made it hard for us to break them down.

"The most important thing was to get through. There's a few big games coming up and we just have to take each one as it comes along."

Clark was pleased that central midfielder Black, who often comes in for stick from Rangers fans, performed in midweek and has predicted there is much more to come.

He said: "Ian does so many things really well for us and a lot of them go unnoticed. He plays just in front of the back four and wins a lot of second balls and starts attacks for us.

"He does well for us defensively and it was a great run he made for the goal and thankfully big Jon was there to put it in.

"You don't play for Rangers if you are not a good player. You see even more of him and what he does when you train with him every day. We know he's a great player."