Mohamed Diomande lifts lid on THAT Rangers injury as thumb break left him 'unable to move'

Recovered Mohamed Diomande was delighted to get the thumbs up for a return to action after undergoing surgery on his damaged digit.

Now the Rangers ace has vowed to get the finger out as the Light Blues fight tooth and nail to get their Treble push back on track. The Ivory Coast kid suffered a broken thumb in this month’s Ibrox Old Firm draw, forcing him to miss out as Gers suffered serious title slip-ups against Ross County and Dundee. The damaging results in Dingwall and at Dens Park have left Philippe Clement’s side three points behind Premiership leaders Celtic.

But Diomande - who returned to action in last weekend’s Scottish Cup semi-final win over Hearts - is determined to claw back the deficit. “My thumb's alright now,” said the midfielder. “I feel a little bit of pain but it’s OK. I broke it during the Old Firm game.

“How did it happen? Well that’s the question! I don’t really remember how it happened! When it happened I thought I could play on. During the second half I started to play but I was feeling a lot of pain. It’s very frustrating to miss games because I don’t play basketball! I play with my feet. But I had to say I could not really move.

“It was frustrating not to be in the team to help the other boys. I tried to play (against County and Dundee). We tried to find a way that would allow me to be involved but I had a scan which showed I’d broken my thumb and I needed to have surgery. But it’s back in place and I’m back playing now.

“Is winning trophies still the aim this season? Yeah, that would be perfect for me. That was one of the reasons I joined this club. I’ll do what I can to help the team, to make myself better and to make my team-mates better. I’m going to do that by working hard in training and by being there in the starting XI, giving my best for the team.”

Gers looked more like their old selves against Steven Naismith’s team as they eased past the Gorgie outfit with a 2-0 win. Diomande said: “We’ve gone back to training and looked at what we did well against Hearts.

“The most important thing is that we look at ourselves and try to improve. The next game is against St Mirren on Sunday and we need to get another win. But the performance against Hearts, that’s our level. We know when we play like that, nobody can compete against us.

“We’re just going to try to maintain the level that everybody expects us to be at. We also have big expectation levels for ourselves. We’ll do everything to make sure we don’t drop those levels.”

Clement sprang a surprise when he dropped Connor Goldson at Hampden - but Leon Balogun justified his gaffer’s call with a steady display. “That’s why we have players on the bench,” added Diomande. “We depend on them also and know they can bring energy.

“Everybody in the team is working hard and we know what we need to do, whether you are starting or not starting.

“When players come into the team, they always do an amazing job because they’re going to do what the other guys were doing, to push and work hard for the team. It’s all about the team. We believe in each other and we will continue pushing for each other.”