Rangers seemed nervous in their play at the outset and Kilmarnock, sensing that, put their visitors under some early pressure. Killie looked in the mood, and organised at the back, which seemed to have been missing in recent weeks.... but not today!

Nonetheless, Killie fell behind against the run of play after 16 mins, in what was Rangers' first genuine attack

Fernando Ricksen's initial ball into the box was headed out by Simon Ford to the Rangers right where Alan Hutton collected and swung it back into the area.

Arveladze judged the flight of the ball to perfection, allowing it to float over the heads of the Kilmarnock defenders before chesting it down and firing it past the helpless Graeme Smith.

The game was short on incident but Killie had a chance to equalise after 32 minutes when Kris Boyd released Danny Invincibile, but the Australian chose to shoot from outside the box when a pass to the unmarked Colin Nish might have produced a better result.

Rangers should have had a second shortly before half time when they broke forward at pace, but Arveladze over-hit a pass to Ricksen, forcing the Dutchman wide and his shot was ultimately a poor one.

Arveladze's control then let him down in front of goal after Gregory Vignal had picked him out, while at the other end, Boyd took a fresh-air shot from eight yards after Steven Naismith's cutback found him in space.

Kilmarnock applied some early second-half pressure without troubling Stefan Klos and they were nearly made to pay when Prso and Arveladze mounted a swift counter-attack that ended with Prso's shot being tipped round the post by Smith.

Alex Rae blasted an effort from 25 yards just inches wide before Ricksen appeared to be pushed in the back by Naismith as he jumped for a header inside the box, but no penalty was given.

Rangers seemed to have finally found their rhythm and Smith was forced into a terrific save to deny Ricksen before Ford cleared Namouchi's header off the line after Prso had put the ball back into the danger area.

Moments later Ford was required to make an important challenge to prevent Hamed Namouchi turning Hutton's cross into the net.

Vignal gifted Killie the chance of an equaliser with 15 minutes remaining as he passed the ball straight to Boyd, who turned inside Marvin Andrews but shot only at Klos.

Kilmarnock: Smith, Hay, Dindeleux, Ford, Greer, Leven, McDonald, (Wales 45 mins) Invincibile, Naismith (Murray 59 mins), Boyd, Nish (Dodds 72 mins)

Subs: Samson, Dargo, Johnston & Wolski

Attendance: 11,156