Gers increase advantage

Rangers stretched their lead at the summit of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League to seven points with a hard-fought 2-0 victory over Kilmarnock.

Second-half goals from Nikica Jelavic and Gregg Wylde - his first at Ibrox - secured the win after the opening 45 minutes had ended goalless.

The Scottish champions will now be hoping to open up a 10-point advantage over Celtic with victory over Hibernian on Saturday before their rivals are next in SPL action.

Kilmarnock had an early chance to open the scoring when James Fowler delivered a cross into the box for Paul Heffernan, who just failed to connect with the header in front of goal.

At the other end, Jelavic set up Sasa Papac for the shot and though he only had Cammy Bell to beat, the Killie goalkeeper was up to the task and did well to block the point-blank effort.

Jelavic had a decent chance of his own when the ball broke unexpectedly for him just inside the area but the Croatian striker connected awkwardly and the shot fell well wide of the upright.

Bell threw himself in front of a Kyle Lafferty shot after the Northern Irishman was set up by Steven Whittaker for the best chance so far.

Fowler earned himself a caution for felling Wylde and the foul proved costly when Jelavic met the free-kick from Steven Davis and sidefooted home to open the scoring after 64 minutes.

Gary Harkins hit the crossbar for Kilmarnock but Rangers doubled their lead with 66 minutes gone when Wylde played a one-two with Edu before rifling into the back of the gaping net from six yards.

Rangers should have had the net bulging again when Jelavic turned provider for Davis but Bell just managed to palm the effort to safety and deny the midfielder the opportunity to add his name to the scoresheet.