TOM LAWRENCE’S moment of magic gave disjointed Rangers a 1-0 William Hill Premiership win over Hibernian at Ibrox.
The Govan stadium was fully opened for the first time since the completion of the Copland Stand refurbishment. Still, there was an inertia about the home side until the Gers midfielder broke the deadlock in the 34th minute with a wonderful curling finish.
Light Blues goalkeeper Jack Butland saved a Mykola Kukharevych penalty just before the break but even that failed to fire up Philippe Clement’s team, who looked a shadow of the side that convincingly beat Malmo 2-0 in the Europa League opener on Thursday night.
Nevertheless, despite a lacklustre performance, Rangers made it four wins in a row since the 3-0 defeat by Celtic at Parkhead at the start of the month to move five points behind their Old Firm rivals and Aberdeen at the top of the table.
Unsurprisingly, after their European exertions, Clement rotated his squad.
Left-back Jefte returned from suspension with midfielder Nico Raskin and winger Ross McCausland starting along with striker Hamza Igamane, who missed out on Thursday’s match in Sweden because of passport problems.
David Gray, whose Hibs side were unbeaten in three games, gave winger Junior Hoilett his first start, with Lewis Miller in at full-back and Josh Campbell back in the side.
Hibs had the first real chances, Hoilett clearing the bar with an effort from inside the box before a drive from midfielder Kwon Hyeok-kyu was blocked by Gers defender John Souttar but it was a mostly dull start to proceedings.
However, just after the half-hour mark Lawrence took a McCausland pass and curled the ball high into the net from the edge of the box with perfect execution.
The offside flag went up to deflate the home supporters, only for VAR to eventually confirm that the goal was good.
It was Lawrence’s third goal of the season, matching last season’s tally and it lifted the crowd, if only momentarily.
Igamane flashed a shot over the bar and Kwon came close with a drive from outside the box which was touched behind by Butland.
From the resultant corner, there was a VAR check for a Hibs penalty when Souttar handled Kukharevych’s shot.
Referee Nick Walsh checked his pitchside monitor and pointed to the spot, with cheers ringing out when Butland dived to his right to save from the Hibs attacker.
McCausland and Raskin made way for Kieran Dowell and Nedim Bajrami for the start of the second half and then Cyriel Dessers took over from Igamane, who had been quiet but it was the visitors who took a grip of the game.
Clement appeared to react to groans from the Gers fans after Vaclav Cerny passed the ball backwards rather than thrusting towards the Hibs goal and spoke at length with the winger after replacing him with Dujon Sterling moments later.
Dwight Gayle came on to make his debut for the visitors, taking over from Hoilett, with Elie Youan coming on for Kukharevych.
Rangers simply could not into top gear, much to the increasing frustration of the home support.
Dessers missed a good chance to double the lead in the 81st minute when he headed a cross from fellow substitute Bajrami straight at keeper Josef Bursik before Hibs substitute Gayle headed past the post from close range.
Gers defender Robin Propper then headed high over the bar with three minutes remaining, leaving Rangers to nervously defend their slender lead until the final whistle.
