Rangers comfortably beat Ross County to move to within two points of second-placed Aberdeen in the Scottish Premiership.

Hamza Igamane's thunderous strike deflected over Jack Hamilton for an early Rangers lead and Danilo robbed the County goalkeeper to tap in the visitors' second before half-time.

Akil Wright twice went close with headers for the hosts in the second half before James Tavernier smacked in Rangers' late third.

Philippe Clement's visitors, who were nine points behind Aberdeen a month ago, have a game in hand over the Dons but remain 11 points off runaway leaders Celtic, their next domestic opponent.

County sit eighth, three points below St Mirren.

The contrasting fortunes of the goalkeepers had a significant say in proceedings in Dingwall.

Rangers' Jack Butland stumbled on the ball and County could not take advantage.

He regained his composure, with a deflected Noah Chilvers effort at 1-0 and the second Wright header bringing out the best in the England international.

When Hamilton, who has stepped in for the injured Ross Laidlaw, took a heavy touch before an attempted clearance, Danilo pounced, charging down the ball and chasing in to add a simple finish.

The stand-in goalkeeper twice did well to foil Vaclav Cerny and Nedim Bajrami but had other nervous moments, including a misunderstanding that almost caused an own goal off Eli Campbell and spilling a second-half corner.

However, Hamilton could do nothing about Igamane's strike from the left looping over him, nor Tavernier's swerving shot when County were caught short at the back.

And his manager Don Cowie said afterwards: "Jack had done really well up until that point in the game. Maybe he just got caught out slightly in terms of the tempo of the game. We're not going to get caught too much up in it. For the majority of today, he did really well."

Clement had said earlier in the season that supporters would see the best of his team come October/November and was criticised when that did not quite come to fruition.

Perhaps the Belgian was a few weeks out with his prediction as, while not the finished article, Rangers are starting to re-discover the form they initially showed under him last season.

Cerny continues to be a useful outlet, Danilo and Ianis Hagi's influence is growing with fitness, while captain Tavernier and fellow full-back Jefte impressed going forward.

Igamane was, though, the top performer, both with his goal and link-up play. The Moroccan has netted four goals in his most recent four games - all of which Rangers have won in the build-up to their most challenging week of the season.

Rangers host former Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou's Tottenham Hotspur side in Thursday's Europa League match (20:00) then attempt to defend the League Cup in next Sunday's final against Celtic (15:30), having not beaten their Glasgow rivals since May 2023.

After beating Rangers for the first time in their history at the same ground in April, County sent a couple of early warnings to their visitors with long-range Alex Samuel and Ronan Hale efforts off target - both the result of counter attacks.

It was a tempo they could not maintain and Cowie's side struggled to cope with Rangers' movement - but, credit to County, their heads did not go down after the Danilo goal.

Either of the Wright headers could have reduced the deficit, his first deflected wide and the second only stopped by Butland's prowess.

Next for Cowie's side is a Premiership trip to Hibernian on Saturday (15:00).

Ross County manager Don Cowie: "We recognise we're playing a very good team. At 1-0, I was content. We were still in the game. We gift them a second goal and that makes it really difficult. The timing of it wasn't ideal.

"Akil gets a really good opportunity from the corner, which he believes he should score. Those are the moments you have to take when you're playing against a really good team."

Rangers manager Philippe Clement: "It's what I wanted to see but of course I'm very pleased because this is a really hard place to show that. To win in that way, it's even better then.

"I'm very pleased about our domination, about how we controlled the game but with the intention to score more goals, how we kept our organisation, concentration also not to become sloppy and to give things away and to keep a clean sheet and three goals at Ross County, it's a really huge performance."

"Our squad is starting to recognise what to do when. It's hard work. It's about getting experience together, getting connections between players together, communication on the pitch, the right timings."