Tom Lawrence’s superb strike lifted Rangers to a 1-0 win over Hibernian in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday.
Lawrence netted in the 34th minute with a sublime curler as third-placed Rangers stayed in touch with leaders Celtic.
Playing at a fully-opened Ibrox for the first time since the completion of the Copland Stand refurbishment, Rangers were indebted to goalkeeper Jack Butland for saving Mykola Kukharevych’s penalty just before half-time
Philippe Clement’s team were a shadow of the side who convincingly beat Malmo 2-0 in their Europa League opener on Thursday.
Despite their spluttering 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.
“You play today at 12pm after a European trip where you come home around 2am at the training ground, then you need to drive back home so players sleep, if they are lucky, around 4am,” Clement said of his team’s lethargic display.
“You have lost one night of sleep, you have one night of sleep and this one is also a short one because you need to wake up really early to be ready for the game.
“So almost everybody who played on Thursday and even the guys who didn’t play, they were less fresh than in the last couple of weeks.”
Just after the half-hour, Lawrence took a Ross McCausland pass and curled his shot high into the net from the edge of the area.
The offside flag went up to deflate the home supporters, only for VAR to eventually confirm that Lawrence’s third goal of the season should stand.
Hamza Igamane flashed a shot over the bar as Rangers chased a second goal, but Hibs earned a penalty moments later when John Souttar handled Kukharevych’s shot.
Referee Nick Walsh checked his pitchside monitor and pointed to the spot, but Butland dived to his right to deny Kukharevych.
Clement appeared to react to groans from Rangers 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.
Cyriel Dessers missed a good chance to double the lead in the 81st minute when he headed straight at keeper Josef Bursik.
In a tense finale, Hibs substitute Dwight Gayle headed past the post from close-range as Rangers held on.
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