Scottish Premiership: Rangers 3-0 Kilmarnock

Captain Lee Wallace set Rangers on their way to victory

Rangers eased to victory over Kilmarnock to move up to second place in the Scottish Premiership.

Captain Lee Wallace slotted home the opener after being played in by Josh Windass after 16 minutes.

The lead was extended on the half hour, when Andy Halliday scored from the penalty spot after Jason Holt was fouled.

Windass set up Joe Garner to flick Rangers' third past goalkeeper Jamie MacDonald after the break.

With Aberdeen and St Johnstone both losing and Hearts being held to a draw, it meant that the Glasgow side finished the day a point ahead of those three still nine points behind leaders Celtic.

Pressure eases at Ibrox

There had been murmurings around Ibrox about the future of manager Mark Warburton following the League Cup semi-final defeat by Celtic and the midweek draw at home to Saints.

With the club suspension of Joey Barton dragging on after his fallout with his fellow Englishman, Warburton had been linked with the vacancy at Wigan Athletic.

The boos that rang out in midweek would have reached a crescendo had Kilmarnock continued their own good form with a win that would have taken them level with their hosts.

But what a difference one set of results can make - with Rangers doing their own bit with their biggest league win since their promotion to the Premiership.

Windass fires up big guns

Joe Garner scored Rangers' third goal against Kilmarnock

The hosts were holding their annual Remembrance memorial and rolled out a light artillery gun to mark the end of a minute's silence.

As the game got underway, smoke from its ear-cracking blast had barely cleared when Holt then Michael O'Halloran threatened the Killie goal.

Kilmarnock had their moments as forward Jordan Jones skipped past James Tavernier before whipping a shot beyond the far post.

However, Windass was pulling the strings for Rangers and had already set up O'Halloran with a sublime cross-field pass to force a save from MacDonald before playing his part in the opening goal.

Windass turned away from Luke Hendrie on half-way with a clever dummy before rolling the ball beyond the Killie back-four for the galloping Wallace, who beat MacDonald at his near post.

Renewed belief as Killie pay penalty

Rangers' second came when former Ibrox defender Stevie Smith's clumsy challenge on Holt left referee John Beaton with no choice but to point to the spot.

The pace of Halliday strike sent the spot kick past MacDonald.

There was now a fight and sense of belief in the Rangers ranks that has rarely been seen this term and they made sure of just the points two minutes into the second half.

Windass scuffed his volley on the corner of the box, but it made its way into the six-yard box, where Garner was lurking to tap home his second goal in two games.

What the managers said

Rangers' Mark Warburton: "We wanted to be dynamic, we wanted to be positive in our decision-making and we got the early chances straight away.

"Our intention was clear and we played a very pleasing first half. When we lost the ball, we reacted very quickly to get it back and win it high up the back and we created a host of chances.

"We wanted to come out, get on the ball and score the next goal, which we did really early.

"We just controlled the game from there. Maybe the tempo dipped a little bit in the second half, understandably against a very good Kilmarnock side who were high on confidence coming here. I thought it was a very good performance."

Kilmarnock's Lee Clark: "It was disappointing and quite similar to Celtic in that we've been very passive in the game.

"We thought we had an opportunity with the confidence levels of the players after their performance on Wednesday.

"We wanted to keep the game tight as long as we could so the fans would become a little bit nervous. But we allowed Rangers to gain momentum. The crowd got behind them and that made it a very difficult afternoon for us. Did it become an overwhelming occasion? It looks that way."