Rangers survived a late push by Raith Rovers to come away with a 2-1 win from Stark's Park in their Scottish Championship meeting this evening.
The visitors looked the sharper of the two sides from the start as Lee Wallace and Nicky Clark tried to put Raith under pressure at the back early on, but the latter's finish was well high.
Kris Boyd rattled the woodwork shortly after as Rangers continued to push for the opening goal, with Wallace setting him up for a header, which was denied by the crossbar.
Haris Vuckic and Lee McCulloch also came close in the first half, but it was youth player Andy Murdoch who broke the deadlock when he rifled the ball into the top corner from 25 yards out.
Clark, who was making his first start of 2015 for the visitors, had a chance to make it two just before the interval, but he scuffed his finish wide.
Rangers were able to double their advantage shortly after the restart, as Nicky Law played the ball in for Boyd to turn past David McGurn from just a couple of yards out.
Raith started to see more of the ball as the second half progressed though, and Christian Nade came close to pulling a goal back when a poor clearance from the keeper left him with a sight of goal, but his header was a fraction high.
The hosts did halve Rangers' lead shortly after, as Mark Stewart picked out Ryan Conroy in space on the edge of the box to leave him to hit the ball in the volley into the roof of the net.
Rangers quickly tried to restore their two-goal cushion, but McGurn pulled off a couple of saves in quick succession to deny Vuckic and Boyd.
Raith could have been level just moments later when Ross Callachan unleashed a powerful 20-yard drive, but it was watched all the way by the keeper.
The result moves Rangers back up to second in the table, while Raith sit sixth, nine points off the playoff places.
Sian Cowper
