Rangers manager Mark Warburton is convinced that the injury sustained by striker Martyn Waghorn would have been much less severe had the Gers been playing against Kilmarnock on a grass surface instead of the artificial one installed at Rugby Park.
The striker went down inside the box under a heavy challenge from Stuart Findlay in the Tuesday replay of their Scottish Cup fifth round clash.
The 26-year-old stepped up to give his side the lead in the third minute, but had to be replaced by Nicky Clark soon afterwards as he could not continue.
The Gers have confirmed that the 26-year-old has sustained a knee ligament injury and faces up to six weeks on the sidelines if not more.
Warburton fears that the striker might not play again this season and has confirmed that Waghorn is in London to consult a specialist.
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The 53-year-old insists that his is confident that from a coaching and medical perspective the striker’s injury wouldn’t have been of this nature on a grass pitch.
Waghorn revealed his top-scorer had sustained lacerations and bruising to his knee in the brief seven minutes spent on the artificial surface of Rugby Park.
According to the Gers manager, Waghorn didn’t aggravate his injury by taking the penalty, but instead because of the kick realised that something was wrong with his knee.
Speaking in an interview with the club’s official website, Warburton said: “There is no doubt in our mind from a coaching perspective and a medical perspective that his injury wouldn’t have been of this nature had it not been for the pitch.
“Martyn Waghorn left that pitch with lacerations and bruising to his knee. When we use the term unforgiving we mean in terms of the hard aspect of the pitch.
“Had that been on grass he wouldn’t have had the same level of injury and that is just a simple fact which is backed up by our very proficient medical team.”
“He didn’t aggravate it by taking the penalty, he realised something was wrong when he struck it.
“He is a striker and he hadn’t scored for four games, the fans were signing his name to take it but the minute he took it he knew the knee wasn’t right.”
There has been an ongoing debate over the usage of artificial surfaces in top level football and the Gers will certainly now vehemently oppose its usage in the top tier of Scottish football.
