Steven Davies grabbed the only goal of the game at Ibrox, as Rangers moved two points clear of Celtic at the summit of the SPL. With just three games remaining, Rangers will now be favourites to claim the silverware and end three years of dominance from Gordon Strachan's men.

Rangers boss Walter Smith said: "We are delighted to have the situation that we're in at the present moment and hopefully we can take advantage of it.

"We were in a good position last year and we had a fixture pile-up, which didn't help us at all.

"We don't have that this year so we have to show that we have the ability to go on and take the championship.

"We are on a good run of form just now and I've been really pleased with how some of the boys have been playing. Hopefully we can continue that."

He said: "If we want to win a league championship, we were in a position where we had to win or else we were depending on other teams to help us in that quest. Now we can depend on ourselves, which is what we would want.

"I'm pleased with the result and I'm really pleased with the way the team played overall. The amount of work they put into the game was excellent.

"There wasn't too much between the teams and I was delighted when we got our noses in front in the first half.

"Celtic had better possession of the ball at the start of the second half but, credit to our boys, we only really looked as though we would lose a goal from a set-piece and we managed to handle that throughout the game.

"I'm absolutely delighted that we managed to win, just a little bit disappointed that we didn't make it a little less nervy for ourselves in the last few minutes of the game when we missed a couple of opportunities. But I'm obviously delighted with the result."

Hoops boss Gordon Strachan declared himself "proud" of his players despite Celtic surrendering their position at the top of the table.

"It's always disappointing when you don't win a game but I'm proud of them," he said.

"To come and play as they did here, was excellent.

"When Rangers scored, I thought we were well in control of the game and then the rest of the game I thought, 'This is good, you are not panicking, you are passing it well and getting to the right areas'.

"But we just couldn't finish Rangers off.

"I was also pleased by the way we started.

"In free play, we did very well and you are not going to get a lot of chances when you go away from home against a good, physical Rangers side with good height.

"You have to think your way through when you are playing against that sort of bulk."

"It's a challenge now," he said. "That's what you get. We had it last year and we have it again.

"I'm sure the guys would like to be a few points clear but we have to accept where we are and get on with it.

"They relished the challenge of coming here and playing and they played well.

"Small things can make a difference. For the goal, we didn't win the header, people were out of position and because of that we were a bit disjointed when the ball came across.

"So that's the big disappointment.

"But after watching the players today, I have every faith in them."