SCOTT GALLACHER is confident his spell with Airdrie will prepare him for a challenge for the Rangers' No.1 jersey.

The young keeper clinched a loan deal with the League One side in August and has played for the Diamonds six times thus far.

Despite showing up well when given the nod by boss Ally McCoist in the opening weeks of the campaign, the 24-year-old lost his place in the Ibrox starting line-up when Cammy Bell was registered as a Rangers player on September 1.

Gallacher was unable to feature for Gary Bollan's side in their two recent trips to Ibrox that saw Rangers emerge 3-0 and 2-0 winners on Scottish Cup and league duty respectively. But he is confident he is on the right track at New Broomfield.

"It has been good and I've been getting games, which has been great for me personally," he said.

"We're going through a bad patch in terms of results but we've a good bunch of boys and a lot of characters in the dressing room.

"If I was the Rangers manager, I'd be thinking about putting me out on loan too, when I looked at how many games I've played.

"I've just got to prove myself. Hopefully I did well when I played here and that stands me in good stead. I feel I did well when I got a chance earlier in the season.

"My plan is to go out, play games and then come back and compete here. I want to be at Rangers and I've been here since I was young."

Ex Ibrox keeper Chris Woods and more recent former Rangers stars DaMarcus Beasley and Alejandro Bedoya were back at Murray Park yesterday to gear up for the USA's friendly with Scotland on Friday.

Woods is the American's goalkeeping coach.