Rangers bounce back from Old Firm defeat to beat Killie at Ibrox

Rangers have bounced back from their Old Firm defeat to beat Kilmarnock in their last game before the winter break.

Ross McCausland and Abdallah Sima both scored at the end of the first-half before Danny Armstrong pulled one back from the penalty spot in the second.

Todd Cantwell then grabbed a third for Rangers to secure Kilmarnock’s first defeat in a month.

The victory means Rangers reduced the deficit at the top of the league to five points for at least a couple of hours with Celtic taking on St Mirren in Paisley in the late-kick-off.

Clement was looking to get his side back to winning ways after the 2-1 loss at Celtic Park in their last game and he brought in Kieran Dowell and John Souttar to replace Dujon Sterling and Leon Balogun.

New signing Fabio Silva was joined on the bench by returning midfielder Nico Raskin and both were brought into the action in the second-half to rapturous applause.

The visitors arrived in Glasgow on the back of the six-game unbeaten run that included four wins and two draws.

Tributes were paid before kick-off in memory of the 66 fans who died in the Ibrox disaster on January 2, 1971 and a minute silence was also held.

Rangers came out of the traps the quickest as they looked to put Saturday’s defeat behind them and the first chance fell to Cyriel Dessers who hit the side netting with a close-range effort.

The Nigeria forward came close again with a header that was just over the bar following a good cross from Ridvan Yilmaz on the left-hand side.

Killie then had their first big chance when Kyle Vassell raced past Souttar and found himself one-on-one with Jack Butland who produced a good save to keep the scores level.

The visitors had a good spell of possession after that as they pushed for the opening goal.

But the deadlock was broken against the run of play when Rangers broke up the park and Dessers sent a through ball to McCausland who raced on to it and fired the ball past Will Dennis to make it 1-0.

And Sima doubled the lead with a volley just a few minutes later just before half-time to make it 2-0 going in to the break.

Kilmarnock were awarded a penalty early in the second-half when referee John Beaton was called over to the VAR monitor to check a handball from John Souttar.

He pointed to the spot after a quick review and Danny Armstrong stepped up to slot it past Butland to make it 2-1 and throw the visitors a lifeline.

But just as the celebrations were dyeing down Rangers restored their two goal advantage when Cantwell slotted home from close range to make it 3-1.

New boy Silva was then introduced in to the action to make his debut following his loan move from Wolverhampton Wanderers and was given a warm reception from the home support.

Cantwell then came close to make it four but Dennis done well to keep him out.