bbc sports Rangers moved to the top of the Scottish Premier League with an emphatic home win over Kilmarnock.
Kevin Kyle came close for Killie before Kris Boyd and then Kenny Miller put Rangers in command with composed finishes past goalkeeper Mark Brown.
Steven Whittaker squeezed home Rangers' third 10 minutes before half-time.
The visitors lost Kyle to a face injury in the second half and Garry Hay was denied a late consolation by a superb save by Allan McGregor.
Kilmarnock were first to threaten with Hay sending a high hanging cross to the back post where Kyle headed towards goal but goalkeeper McGregor did just enough to divert the ball wide.
The home side quickly steadied themselves and took the lead on seven minutes when Boyd latched on to an intelligent through ball by Kevin Thomson and coolly slotted past goalkeeper Mark Brown from the edge of the box. It was Boyd's 14th goal against his former club.
Boyd had a goal correctly flagged offside before, at the other end, Manuel Pascali volleyed Gavin Skelton's back-post cross goal-wards only for McGregor to make an another important block.
Steven Naismith's powerful shot was met by a smart save by Brown but Rangers did double their lead in the 24th minute.
Lee McCulloch slipped a pass through to Miller, who took a touch before passing the ball into the net.
Undeterred by the deficit, Killie continued to make in-roads to the Rangers goal and Kyle's superb strike from 25 yards was matched by a full-stretch save by McGregor.
The perseverance of Miller was instrumental in Rangers' third on 35 minutes as the striker got the better of Ryan O'Leary and progressed to the by-line before cutting back to Whittaker, who scored at the second attempt after Brown had blocked the full-back's first shot.
Pascali's overhead kick was gathered by McGregor, who then had to save a Skelton shot after the midfielder had taken advantage of a poor clearance by David Weir.
Miller drew saves from Brown either side of half-time as Rangers searched for a fourth.
Kyle headed onto the roof of the net from Hay's free-kick and the striker, who had collided with McGregor in the process, was promptly replaced by Allan Russell.
Kyle Lafferty came on in place of Boyd and the Northern Ireland international came close to scoring when his looping header was cleared off the line by Jamie Fowler in the 72nd minute.
Brown then spilled a downward header by Papac only for the Killie defence to clear and Thomson's left-foot shot from the edge of the area came back off the woodwork.
Hay curled a free-kick effort towards McGregor's top right-hand corner but the goalkeeper ensured he kept a clean sheet with another fine save.
Celtic can return to the SPL summit when they take on Dundee United on Sunday.
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Rangers manager Walter Smith:
"We're delighted with the win. It's always slightly awkward coming back after an international break to get everybody together.
"In the first half we created quite a number of opportunities and we didn't take them all.
"In the second half, I was a little bit disappointed that that creation seemed to dry up.
"We didn't make very many opportunities in the second half of the game until maybe late on."
Kilmarnock manager Jim Jefferies:
"I don't think we've had as much possession here in any of the games we've played. Kevin Kyle's had a great header at the back post and it was a great save.
"They got the goal. My first reaction was that Boyd was maybe offside but I don't know who was playing him on there.
"And then we went to pieces. The defence was awful. It was 3-0 at half-time, it could easily have been 5-0.
"Ryan O'Leary and Frazer Wright stuck to their task a bit better in the second half and they weren't as vulnerable as they were in the first half."
