Kilmarnock 2 Rangers 3Nuno Capucho came off the bench to head a late winner at Kilmarnock to keep his side's title hopes alive yesterday.

The Portuguese winger has attracted a barrage of criticism since his summer switch from Porto - but he earned himself plenty of goodwill from the Ibrox faithful with the goal which means Celtic's lead at the top of the table was brought back to five points.

Rangers had bombarded the home goal for much of the game but needed an equaliser from Shota Arveladze, who had earlier fired them in front, to cancel out replies from Gary McDonald and Peter Canero either side of the break.

It had been an immensely entertaining game and one Rangers deserved to win. But they will nonetheless be breathing a huge sigh of relief that those three points were banked in the end.

Arveladze's opener had arrived on the half-hour mark and was another instinctive finish. Peter Lovenkrands had got a touch to one of Mikel Arteta's many corners and when the ball dropped at the Georgian's feet he controlled it effortlessly before scooping it into the top left corner.

Kilmarnock's 38th-minute equaliser came from their first shot of the game - but it was one worth waiting for. Stevie Fulton provided a glorious backheel to send Canero into space in the box on the right and he was able to pick out McDonald at the far post to apply a low finish past the stranded Stefan Klos.

And then, just four minutes after the restart, however, Kilmarnock went ahead.

Substitute Gary McSwegan, who had come on in the 36th minute after Kris Boyd had limped off, nodded a long, high ball to the back post to where Canero was lurking unmarked in the box and the Scotland under-21 international fired low past Klos.

Rangers replied like a wounded animal and four times in a matter of minutes the home goal led a charmed life as Lovenkrands and Michael Mols went close and Emerson saw his shot parried only for Arveladze to miss the follow-up.

The Georgian made up for that on 63 minutes, scoring the equaliser after Mols deflected a ball from Henning Berg into his path with a superbly cushioned reverse pass and Arveladze blasted emphatically past the Francois Dubourdeau.

Killmarnock sent on Martin Hardie for Stevie Murray with just under 20 minutes to go and the substitute almost fired his side ahead when Rangers failed to clear a rare corner. Klos could only parry his low shot and it needed Arteta on the line to hoof clear.

But the sting in the tail came from Capucho, who was at the back post to head home an Arteta free-kick after Frederic Dindeleux had fouled Lovenkrands just outside the box.

KILMARNOCK: Dubourdeau, Shields, Greer, Dindeleux, Hay, Canero, Fulton (McLaughlin 89), McDonald, Murray (Hardie 71), Boyd (McSwegan 35), Nish. Subs Not Used: Meldrum, Dillon. Booked: Shields. Goals: McDonald 39, Canero 50.

RANGERS: Klos, Ricksen, Berg, Ball, Emerson (Capucho 80), Arteta, Hughes, Vanoli, Arveladze, Mols (Ostenstad 90), Lovenkrands. Subs Not Used: McGregor, Ross, Burke. Booked: Ricksen. Goals: Arveladze 30, 63, Capucho 87.

Referee: J Underhill (Scotland).