Rangers came from behind to beat Hibernian 4-1 and re-establish their four-point lead at the top of the SPL.
Gers come from behind to beat Hibs 4-1 and move four points clear
Rangers came from behind to beat Hibernian 4-1 at Easter Road and re-establish their four-point lead at the top of the SPL.
Hibs got off to the dream start when Anthony Stokes netted after just 12 seconds following good work by Merouane Zemmama.
But Rangers replied on 21 minutes when Nacho Novo intercepted Liam Miller's ball and passed to Kris Boyd who in turn fed Kenny Miller to slot home.
Walter Smith's side then took the lead eight minutes before the interval when Boyd scored from a Madjid Bougherra cross after Derek Riordan had been caught in possession.
In the second period, Novo latched onto a Miller throughball to beat Hibs keeper Yves Ma-Kalambay at his near post on 53 minutes.
Miller then scored his second on 66 minutes after a pass from Boyd to make sure of the victory and end the Edinburgh club's unbeaten run of 13 league games.
The victory was Rangers' fifth SPL win on the bounce in December and re-established their four point lead over Celtic at the top, while Hibs are now eight points behind in third.
Handed boost
The home side were handed a boost ahead of the match when Sol Bamba was given the green light to play after initially being denied permission to delay joining up with the Ivory Coast squad ahead of the African Cup of Nations.
Rangers were without DaMarcus Beasley after he apparently suffered a thigh strain in training, but Maurice Edu was named on the bench for the first time since suffering a serious knee injury in the final SPL game of last season.
Some fans had yet to take their seats in the stand when Hibs surged into the lead with just 12.4 seconds on the clock.
Zemmama threaded a pass through to Stokes who drilled an angled drive past Allan McGregor and into the back of the net.
It was the SPL's fastest ever goal - beating the record previously held by Saulius Mikoliunas for Hearts back in 2006.
After this stunning blow, Rangers then attempted to force their way back into the game and Kyle Lafferty delivered a decent cross for Miller only for the striker to nod narrowly wide of target.
But Miller made amends for that miss with 21 minutes gone when he raced onto a Boyd pass before rifling past Ma-Kalambay from 20 yards to level the scoreline.
Miller then went to ground in the area claiming he had been bundled over by Chris Hogg but referee Iain Brines was unimpressed by the claims and no penalty was forthcoming.
But Rangers were celebrating again when they took the lead after 37 minutes when Hibs partially cleared from a corner.
Riordan was then dispossessed by Madjid Bougherra, who whipped a cross from the right to the feet of Boyd for the striker to lash high into the net from eight yards.
Second period
Ma-Kalambay appeared to be struggling with a hamstring injury during the first half but reappeared after the interval, with boss John Hughes seemingly reluctant to throw rookie Thomas Flynn into the action.
At the other end, Stokes stung the palms of McGregor with a snap-shot five minutes after the restart and the Rangers goalkeeper did well to snuff out the danger.
Instead, it was Ma-Kalambay who was soon picking the ball out of the net again. The Hibs goalkeeper came off his line to block but was caught cold by Novo's cross-cum-shot from the left with 53 minutes gone.
There appeared to be no way back for Hibs when Rangers claimed their fourth of the day after 66 minutes.
Boyd was the provider for Miller, who shrugged off Bamba to send a low shot under Ma-Kalambay.
The vocal travelling support had more to cheer when Edu was introduced for the final 15 minutes, making his first appearance of the campaign.
Easter Road rapidly began to empty, with Hibs sensing there was no hope of staging their own comeback.
Substitute Abdessalam Benjelloun could have reduced the deficit with a well-struck shot from distance but McGregor was up to the task and blocked well as Rangers continued their winning streak in the SPL.
