Lithuanian star Andrius Velicka is hoping to get the chance to fire Rangers to victory when they take on his former club Hearts at Ibrox on Saturday. The £1 million (€1.2 million) summer signing netted his first goal for the Ibrox club in last week's 1-0 win over Falkirk in the Scottish Premier League's opening fixture.

The Lithuanian international spent 18 months at Tynecastle, netting 26 league goals, before leaving for Norwegian side Viking Stavanger. And the striker would love to be unleashed against the Jambos in a bid to secure another three points for Rangers.

"For me, playing in this match would be special, and if I can score that will also be nice, but only if we win," he said. "I know a lot of people from my time at Hearts and enjoyed playing football there. I had a good relationship with the fans and also managed to score quite a lot of goals, some against Celtic and Rangers.

"But this is now in the past and all I want to do is score goals for Rangers and help us win games. I want to show our great fans what I am capable of, so all I can do is work as hard as I can in training and hope I am selected for matches."

Velicka added: "Like every player I want to be involved all the time but we have a lot of forwards at the club right now and it is up to the manager what he decides to do. I was very happy to score my first goal at Falkirk last Saturday, but the main thing was to get three points and make a good start to the season."

Appeasing the fans
New signing Aaron Niguez Esclapez could go straight into Walter Smith's squad for the match at Ibrox. The arrival of Esclapez on a two-year loan deal from Valencia might go some way to appeasing supporters, some of whom have threatened to protest at the Hearts match following the sale of star player Carlos Cuellar to Premier League side Aston Villa.

In Saturday's other matches, Hibernian face a tough task against Falkirk at Easter Road. Hibs manager Mixu Paatelainen hopes to have new loan signing Steve Pinau from Genoa in his squad, while John Hughes has added keeper Scott Flinders from Crystal Palace to his team that narrowly lost to Rangers last weekend.

First takes on second as surprise table-toppers Hamilton travel north to take on Inverness CT at the Caledonian Stadium. Motherwell face Aberdeen at Fir Park with both clubs aiming to get their first SPL points of the season.

St Mirren have bolstered their squad for their match against Kilmarnock with the loan signing of defender Scott Cuthbert from Celtic while Killie manager Jim Jefferies has added Coventry City striker Donovan Simmonds to his side.

On Sunday Celtic face a tough away match against Dundee United. New signing Marc Crosas will join Gordon Strachan's squad, while the Parkhead club are also hoping to beat Old Firm rivals Rangers to the signature of Cardiff defender Glenn Loovens. Dundee United manager Craig Levein will be hoping his side can put in a better performance following their opening day defeat to SPL new boys Hamilton.