Champions Rangers edged out Motherwell 1-0 with a Peter Lovenkrands goal in the SPL today.
The Danish striker fired home from six yards after Marvin Andrews had set him up in the area after 55 minutes.
But Rangers had to rely on Dutch keeper Ronald Waterreus pulling off vital saves from Motherwell's Scott McDonald and Phil O'Donnell to preserve the lead.
"It was frantic. We knew Motherwell would come right out the traps and the script was exactly as I said before the game," Rangers manager Alex McLeish said.
"They gave us a right hard game, but we rolled our sleeves up in the first half. The second half was a battle but we got in front.
"We had some desperate defending and some fantastic saves from Ronnie Waterreus. (Motherwell manager) Terry (Butcher) will be gutted no to take something from the game."
Rangers are fourth in the standings with 37 points from 22 games, 17 points behind leaders Celtic who beat Kilmarnock 4-2 at home yesterday.
Hearts are second with 47 points following their emphatic 4-1 victory at Dunfermline.
Reuters
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)