Rangers 1 - 0 Hibs Sat 01/10/11

Rangers made it nine wins on the bounce in the SPL with a gutsy 1-0 victory over a hard working Hibs side at Ibrox.

Kyle Lafferty grabbed the only goal of the game as Rangers moved 10 points clear of Celtic at the summit of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League.

The Northern Irishman netted in the second half after Steven Whittaker missed from the penalty spot just before half-time.

The win allowed the Scottish champions to pile the pressure on Celtic - who have two games in hand - ahead of their meeting with Hearts tomorrow, with nearest rivals Motherwell nine points behind Rangers.

Ally McCoist made just one change from the midweek win over Kilmarnock for the visit of Hibs.

Alejandro Bedoya was handed his first league start for the clash at Ibrox, with Juan Manuel Ortiz dropped to the bench.

The Edinburgh side also made a single change from the side who defeated St Johnstone on Wednesday, with Martin Scott drafted into the side ahead of Leigh Griffiths.

Rangers dominated the possession early on but both sides struggled to create much in the way of clear goalscoring opportunities in the opening spell.

But Gregg Wylde should have had the net bulging after 17 minutes when he raced on to a Steven Davis pass with only the goalkeeper to beat. Instead, Graham Stack made the save.

Before the 20 minute mark Wylde again had his head in his hands. Nikica Jelavic laid the ball perfectly into the path of the Scotland under-21 starlet who blasted over from 16 yards in front of the Broomloan Stand.

With half an hour played Kenny McDowall could be seen urging the Gers players forward and at this stage it was Wylde that posed the biggest threat to the visitor's backline.

The teenager produced two brilliant crosses in a row to test Hibs' centre backs Sean O'Hanlon and Ian Murray who, just seconds later, almost handed Jelavic a gift when a sloppy header back to Stack was almost intercepted by the Croatian.

Rangers were now looking like the side that had won their last eight league games and on 35 minutes a delightful pass from Lafferty was calmly brought down by Jelavic but his right foot shot was brilliantly stopped by Stack who was having an inspired game up to this point.

Wylde turned provider for Lafferty but he bulleted a header wide of the target, with the offside flag raised anyway.

At the other end, goalkeeper Allan McGregor was called into action to block a well-struck effort from Ivan Sproule.

Stack then produced a great save to deny a point-blank shot from Jelavic after good play between the Croatian and Lafferty.

Rangers were handed a penalty on the stroke of half-time after Lafferty was brought down in the box by Stack after rounding the goalkeeper. But Whittaker blasted well over from the spot after winning the battle with Jelavic to step up for the pressure kick, as the first half ended goalless.

Rangers made a change at the interval, with Bedoya who had taken a couple of knocks withdrawn and Jamie Ness thrown into the action after his recovery from injury.

Hibs could have opened the scoring a couple of minutes after the restart when Paul Hanlon met a cross from Scott only to head over.

The visitors had another great chance when Garry O'Connor released Junior Agogo into the box and the flag stayed down. McGregor blocked bravely at his feet, before Agogo smashed the rebound into the side netting.

On the hour mark the Champions did have the ball in the net with Ness slotting it home but Jelavic was adjudged to have been in an offside position before Ness had slotted the ball into thr net even although the ball palyed back to Ness had come from a Hibs defender.

The breakthrough finally came after 68 minutes when a Wylde cross into the box dropped for Lafferty at the back post and he fired home from six yards to hand Rangers the advantage.

The home side immediately set about trying to double their lead and Maurice Edu forced a decent save from the goalkeeper, before Jelavic followed up and put the rebound into the net but he was adjudged to be offside.

Stack then produced a superb one-handed save to prevent a ferocious strike from Davis finding the back of the net but Rangers managed to hold on for the narrow victory.

In the end McCoist's men could, and probably should, have scored more but the Gers manager will be delighted his side have maintained their impressive SPL form which has now produced 28 points from a possible 30.

Teams

RANGERS: McGregor; Whittaker, Goian, Bocanegra, Papac, Bedoya (Ness 45), Davis, Edu, Wylde, Jelavic, Lafferty (Wallace 85),

Subs:  Alexander, Broadfoot, Healy, Ortiz, Perry,

Hibs: Stack, Hanlon, O'Hanlon, Murray, O'Connor, Scott (Wotherspoon 75), Sproule (Griffiths 75), Agogo, Pelsson (Sodje 85), Osbourne, Towell,

Subs: Brown, Booth, Stevenson, Stephens,

Ref: S O'Reilly

Man-of-the-match: Wylde

Attendance: 44,430