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Rangers ensured Hearts' lead at the top of the Championship remained in single figures with a largely comfortable victory over Raith Rovers.

It was one of the Ibrox side's more fluent performances of the season.

A Lee McCulloch header and Nicky Law shot on the turn got the ball rolling.

Martin Scott pulled a goal back at the start of the second half but Kenny Miller drilled in Rangers' third, Kris Boyd curled in a fourth and Jon Daly rounded things off.

Manager Ally McCoist had described the 4-0 win against the same opponents at Stark's Park earlier this season as Rangers' best of the season, but the return fixture at Ibrox might also now be a contender.

Against a backdrop of continuing off-field headlines over who may or may not be buying into the financially-stricken outfit, the Rangers players managed to concentrate on the job in hand.

Central to most of what was good about their play was the figure of Lewis MacLeod, who continues to stand out as a beacon of hope.

McCulloch started Rangers' win with an early header

It was he who curled in the corner for McCulloch's flashing close-range header, which opened the scoring for the home side.

He continued to dictate the tempo for Ally McCoist's side, seemingly dragging his team-mates' performances up as he did so.

It was a spot of quick-thinking from Boyd that brought about Rangers' second. The striker was fouled and took the free-kick immediately, finding Miller, who in turn picked out the run of Law.

The Englishman pirouetted and fired the ball past Ross Laidlaw to give Rangers a cushion as they went into the break.

But just as Rangers were looking comfortable, Raith Rovers threatened a comeback as Grant Anderson nodded across goal and Scott's header was too powerful for Steve Simonsen to keep out.

That just riled Rangers though and Miller went straight up the other end to drive in from close range and restore the two-goal lead.

Then Boyd ended his wait for a league goal this season, with some considerable help from the goalkeeper, who somehow let his curled shot through his grasp and into the net.

The strength of Rangers' squad was underlined as they brought on Daly, Nicky Clark and David Templeton as substitutes and Daly added two to the goal tally, twice getting on the end of Richard Foster crosses to cap a very impressive display.

Boyd (far left) broke his Scottish Championship duck