One of our strong points, and we showed it last season, is coming from difficult times. We are ready to give everything

IT'S a race against time for Danilo as the returning Rangers hitman scrambles to get fit for the new season.

- ANDY NEWPORT

IT'S a race against time for Danilo as the returning Rangers hitman scrambles to get fit for the new season.

In fairness to the Brazilian, he's not the only one.

A lack of readiness is a common theme around Ibrox these days.

The clock isn't just ticking for the Govan crisis club, it's crashing like a giant gong as every passing second draws Philippe Clement's rag-tag team closer to the first game of the season.

For Danilo, there's at least a level of belief that as the days go by the stamina levels wiped out by his seven-month lay-off will return.

That might not be enough to see him start when the curtain rises on the new season away to Hearts in eight days' time.

But the striker is over the worst of the devastating knee injury he suffered in Gorgie last December and insists he's on the path back to full fitness.

If only the Rangers support could be so confident that the club are ready to resolve the myriad of problems that have thrust their team into turmoil this summer.

Hope is a sensation in short supply right now, blown away by a stalled recruitment drive, a string of pre-season defeats and the cack-handed Copland Road construction project which means Clement's team will spend a month at least locked out of their own stadium.

But inside the dressing room Danilo insists faith is not lost.