Kilmarnock 0-1 Rangers: Steven Gerrard 'won't look at league table'

Steven Gerrard "won't look at the league table" after his Rangers side beat Kilmarnock to move nine points clear of second-placed Celtic.

James Tavernier's penalty at Rugby Park increased Rangers' Scottish Premiership lead, but reigning champions Celtic have two games in hand.

Gerrard's side are still unbeaten in the league and have dropped just four points from their first 13 fixtures.

"I'll analyse our performance," said the former Liverpool captain.

"I won't look at the league table. It's not the stage of the season to be looking at the league table."

• Reaction & as it happened

The league leaders started on the front foot at Rugby Park and Joe Aribo came close with a left-foot strike that rose just over.

It was a Borna Barisic free-kick that led to the penalty, with his delivery coming off Goldson's head, then Millen's outstretched right hand.

It gave referee Andrew Dallas little option but to point to the spot and Tavernier swept the ball to Danny Rogers' right for his 10th goal of the season.

Goldson headed a Tavernier corner wide and Aribo had another effort deflected away as Rangers dominated the remainder of the first half.

Kilmarnock's only attempt was a long-range free-kick that Chris Burke fired into the arms of former Ibrox team-mate McGregor.

Alan Power tried to change the course of the match early in the second half with a skilful juggle and volley after getting beyond his team-mates, but McGregor collected.

Ryan Kent tested Rogers and the goalkeeper also denied Cedric Itten from close range after substitute Steven Davis sent in a teasing cross.

In between those chances, Rory McKenzie pulled a volley wide and a late free-kick afforded substitute Eamonn Brophy a shooting chance but McGregor beat clear.

It meant successive defeats for Kilmarnock, who remain in sixth place in the division.

Man of the match - Connor Goldson

Goldson won the penalty and coped well with the threat of Kilmarnock striker Nicke Kabamba

What did we learn?

Lech Poznan had limited Rangers to very few chances in the Polish side's midweek Europa League defeat at Ibrox and Kilmarnock's approach was similar, packing central areas every time the visitors came forward.

However, in the first half, that invited Rangers to make full use of the flanks and limited the hosts' numbers when they went forward.

Rangers played with intensity before and after the opening goal but could not put real distance between themselves and Kilmarnock.

Recent memories of recovering from a goal down to beat Rangers 2-1 gave Dyer's side hope the longer the score stayed at 1-0, but history would not repeat itself on this occasion.

What did they say?

Kilmarnock manager Alex Dyer: "We worked hard, especially second half. We showed them a little bit too much respect because they're a good side and they're top of the league.

"I don't think we deserved to win but did enough to try and get a point. If we play like that, we'll do alright."

Rangers manager Steven Gerrard: "We want to be aggressive. The players are buying into it. We tweaked the way we played here slightly.

"We didn't want to overplay, we wanted to make Killie's defenders as uncomfortable as possible by going a little bit more direct. The players have gone out again and carried the plan out superbly well."

What's next?

Kilmarnock visit St Johnstone on league business on Friday (19:45 GMT). The previous day, Rangers meet Benfica in Portugal (17:55), then play the last Premiership match before the international break next Sunday at home to Hamilton Academical (15:00).

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