RANGERS are sweating over the fitness of winger Jamie Murphy after he was forced off during the closing stages of their 4-1 win over St Johnstone.

The 31-year-old turned in another impressive performance at McDiarmid Park to help the Light Blues move to within six points of Celtic in the Premiership standings.

But there is concern ahead of the Scottish Cup clash with Falkirk this weekend and third Old Firm showdown of the campaign after he was on the end of a robust challenge from Matty Willock.

Read more: St Johnstone 1-4 Rangers: Graeme Murty's side six off the pace in the Premiership after Perth win

Murphy was replaced by defender Bruno Alves for the final 12 minutes and Murty, who was without Declan John after he sustained a groin injury in training, will monitor the situation closely in the coming days.

He said: “There are a few knocks, a few sore ones. Jamie was the most obvious one. There are a few people with bruised and battered bodies because we have gone through quite a testing schedule.

“But we will just assess those, particularly Jamie, and try to get them rested down as soon as possible because we have got big games coming up.

“He was in a bit of pain and he was a bit frustrated and a bit angry with some of the tackles that he had, but when you are an influential player and you hold onto the ball as he does people are going to want to be robust and stop you playing. It is part of the game. We have to assess his foot and then we will go from there.

“I don’t want to jinx anything by saying how bad it might be, I don’t want to talk ourselves into it.

“We will assess it, we will try and be calm about it and we will make sure that he will get the requisite care.”

Goals from James Tavernier, Josh Windass, Sean Goss and Alfredo Morelos clinched a comfortable win for Rangers as they continued their fine recent run of form.

It is now five wins on the spin for Murty’s side as they get set for two huge cup and league outings that could determine their ambitions for the remainder of the campaign.

Read more: St Johnstone 1-4 Rangers: Graeme Murty's side six off the pace in the Premiership after Perth win

Rangers have not put a winning run like this together for two years and boss Murty is confident there is plenty more to come from the Light Blues.

He said: “It’s the first I’ve heard of it to be honest because it is just knocking your point over when you get lined up against them.

“I thought the players accepted the challenge. It would have been really easy to blame conditions or blame the weather or not quite be at it.

“I thought in our first half performance we showed a really good attitude and a real hunger to take the game to our opponents and then take the game away from our opponents.

“That is really, really pleasing. This team is improving.

“They are getting better, they are demanding more of one another, but they are doing it in a positive way which is really pleasing for me. I thought our play at time was really pleasing and really challenging for our opponents to try and stop.

“I had a little go at the players after the game. I questioned whether they would have taken 4-1 before the game and they said yes so I asked what they were moaning about.

“They said the last half hour wasn’t good enough and they need to be better and that’s great for me to hear.

“But I told them we came and did the job we set out to do. Do you think we can get better? They said yes but I said to leave it there, not be too down, and move forward.

“We can improve on the things that weren’t right next time and if we have that mentality for the rest of the season then it bodes well for the direction of the club.”