Rangers hopes for Championship continue

The Rangers hope for the SPL championship found a new life as a 3-1 victory over Motherwell in conjunction with Hearts holding Celtic to a draw as catapulted them to within a single point of Gordon Strachan's side.

Laden with injuries, Walter Smith surprised the Ibrox faithful as Andrius Velička received a rare start. The start for the Lithuanian international proved fortuitous as only two minutes-in he pounced on a loose box from Kris Boyd's header and sent the ball in. Eight minutes later the margin was doubled as Steven Whittaker's long ball found Kris Boyd with the striker driving the ball in from just twenty metres. Any thoughts of an easy afternoon in Glasgow were interrupted eight minutes before the break as John Sutton probing effort from twenty-three metres quickly found the back of the net. Opportunities came and went for the Rangers without a mark but five minutes past the hour they were the beneficiary of a call that many will question as Brian McLean was adjudged to bringing down Pedro Mendes in the area and the spot was pointed to. Kris Boyd quickly converted to restore the two goal margin. While Rangers looked to add to the lead, the day concluded without further incident with a 3-1 victory for Walter Smith's side.

The Gers return to action next Sunday against Hibernian.