McInnes changed a winning team for Saturday night’s 2-2 draw at Dundee, leaving Kelsy on the bench and bringing Badredine Bouanani into the starting line-up.

Rangers had named the same starting XI in their previous three matches, with Ryan Naderi and Kelsy forming the strike partnership. Boyd said: “There are players out there that prefer that lone role because (of) the way they play the game. I get that. I understand it.” [Go Ballistic]

He added: “But there is no striker out there who will tell you that they would want to play on their own. You always want a partner with your little flick-ons; you’ve got a connection with them.”

Boyd said Naderi had been isolated, particularly during the first half, because he is not a striker who can bully defenders and win headers. He said: “He depends on somebody around him.”

Rangers fell behind at Dens Park when Bradley Fink opened the scoring. Bouanani equalised before half-time, and Nico Raskin put the visitors ahead after the break.

However, Callum Morris took advantage of an error by Dan Neil to make it 2-2.

The result ended Rangers’ seven-game winning run and stopped McInnes’ side from moving to the top of the Premiership. Celtic then opened a four-point lead with a 7-1 win over Hearts on Sunday. Boyd said: “So he did miss a strike partner.”

Rangers return to Ibrox to play St Johnstone on Saturday, when Boyd will be watching to see whether Naderi and Kelsy are reunited in attack. Boyd said: “It will be interesting to see what Derek does against St Johnstone on Saturday because the first part of the second half, Rangers were very good.

“And then he made the substitutions, and it didn’t quite kick on from there.”

Kelsy’s absence was one of the main points raised by Boyd after the draw. The former Rangers striker said he was unsure whether the forward should have been removed from the starting side.

Boyd said: “It will be interesting to see if Kelsy comes back into the starting team because did he deserve to be dropped? I’m not so sure.”