Rangers climbed to the summit of the Scottish Premiership after grinding out a 3-1 victory over Kilmarnock at Ibrox, though manager Derek McInnes admitted the performance was far from polished following the lengthy international hiatus.
The home side raced into a commanding lead before the break, with Ryan Naderi scoring twice with headers sandwiching a strike from Kevin Kelsy to put Rangers 3-0 up at the interval. However, Kilmarnock pushed hard after the restart and created numerous opportunities, eventually getting a goal back deep into stoppage time when substitute Nicky Clescenco finished off a swift counterattack.
Despite being outshot on target six to four, Rangers held on for a sixth straight league win, moving a point clear of Celtic, who play Motherwell on Sunday. Goalkeeper Ivor Pandur was rarely called into action, facing just one serious test before conceding.
McInnes, whose starting lineup included eight players who had been on international duty, acknowledged the disjointed nature of his side's display but insisted the result was what mattered most.
"The fact we went top of the league, we shouldn't lose sight of that. There's a lot of positives, but the performance was disjointed at times," McInnes said. "I was really pleased with how clinical we were in the first half. We put the ball in the box, we scored goals, we just didn't do it enough for whatever reason. But we have to be honest, for long spells we looked like a team that hadn't been together for the last three weeks."
The Rangers boss also took aim at the scheduling of the international break, which he felt disrupted his squad's cohesion. "There's a bit of understanding for me where the players have been. This break's been far too long. Whoever came up with this idea, it's such a long time for your players to be away. We pay their wages, we look after our players, and for them to be away for nearly three weeks is too long. But we've got the job done, and credit the players for digging deep and getting three points."
Elsewhere, Hearts delivered their most emphatic home league performance in over three years, crushing St Mirren 5-0 at Tynecastle to stay within touching distance of the top two. Laurent Mendy opened the scoring in the 20th minute, before Calvin Miller converted two separate penalties either side of half-time. Cláudio Braga and Josh McPake rounded off the rout, sending Hearts into Thursday's Conference League opener against Nordsjaelland in fine form.
It marked Hearts' biggest league win at home since a 6-1 demolition of Ross County under Steven Naismith in April 2023, and the Edinburgh club now boast the division's best attacking record.
Hearts manager Wouter Vrancken expressed satisfaction at the attacking identity his team has developed. "We try to play a kind of football that is positive and constructive and proactive, and not a reaction. I think people come to the stadium to see nice football, to see goals from your side," he said. "Also for the players, we try to play a style of football that, when you were a little boy, when you started playing football on the street, you played football to score goals, not to stay in front of your goal and prevent the goals. You want to score goals because this is the nicest feeling you have in football. Some days it will work better than other days, but it's nice to see that it worked well today."
In other Premiership action, Dundee snatched a dramatic 2-1 win at Falkirk thanks to a stoppage-time goal from Ashley Hay, who had been sidelined since early August with a ligament injury. Hay pounced on a loose ball from Ethan Hamilton's free-kick to complete the comeback after Owen Bevan had cancelled out Jacob Murrell's first-half penalty.
Meanwhile, it was a tough start for new Hibernian manager Marink Reedijk, whose side lost 1-0 away to Dundee United at Tannadice. Daniel Bennie, on loan from QPR, scored the only goal before the break, and Hibernian's afternoon worsened when Jacob Devaney was shown a red card late in the match.
Based on reporting from the Guardian.