Own goal hands Rangers win

The hosts struggled to break down a disciplined Killie defence in the first 38 minutes, though goalkeeper Anssi Jaakkola had to react quickly to prevent an own goal from Manuel Pascali.

And despite lacking a creative edge, Rangers were able to finally open the scoring seven minutes before the interval courtesy of El-Hadji Diouf’s first SPL goal.

But although the Glasgow side looked good value to double their lead, Killie were awarded a penalty on the hour when Richard Foster fouled Clancy.

Jamie Hamill converted his sixth spot kick of the season, and for 25 minutes the visitors defended resolutely and Rangers’ opportunity to close the gap on Celtic at the top of the table was disappearing.

But some late fortune ensured the three points for Walter Smith’s men when Clancy converted past his own keeper three minutes from time, before Kyle Lafferty’s foul on the unfortunate Irishman inside the box was waved away by the official in stoppage time.

The dramatic win means the Gers are now just two points behind their fierce rivals, with one game in hand remaining.

The only SPL game of the cup weekend, re-arranged from earlier in the season, started very slowly and it was Killie with the first real chance of the game.

Hamill’s corner found David Silva in the danger zone, but despite controlling the ball well the Portuguese forward could only fire wide.

A clever flick-on by Maurice Edu granted Kyle Bartley a free header, and if not for the reflexes of Jaakkola to tip his effort over it would have been 1-0 Rangers on 16 minutes.

Halfway through the first period, Diouf really should have done better from close range when he sliced an effort wide minutes before Jaakola reacted sharply again to stop Pascali’s attempt to clear a ball into the box from going over the line.

And despite doing little to unlock the Kilmarnock defence, Rangers were sparked into life by the first really impressive contribution of Diouf when he collected Whittaker’s pass on 38 and coolly slotted home the opener.

The home side ended the half comfortably and spent fifteen minutes of the second leaving their supporters wondering when, not if, the second goal would come.

Unfortunately for the blue army, it came at the opposite end of the pitch.

Foster brought his foot up dangerously high to deal with a tricky bounce inside the box, catching Clancy in the process and the referee immediately pointed to the spot.

Hamill dispatched from twelve yards superbly, beating Allan McGregor despite the goalkeeper guessing the right way at full stretch.

The hosts searched for a way back in front, and after Bartley and Diouf tried and failed, Madjid Bougherra headed home with seven minutes to go – only for the linesman’s flag to be up for offside.

Fortune favoured Smith’s side shortly after though, when Clancy had the misfortune of putting into his own net in the midst of another heavy Rangers attacking spell.

Things went from bad to worse for Clancy and Kilmarnock when he was brought down by substitute Lafferty in the area during time added on, in an incident which seemed more of a clear-cut penalty than the one given 30 minutes earlier.

However, a goal kick was awarded and the Scottish champions escaped with the win to keep the pressure on Celtic at the summit of the SPL table.