That served only to irk the champions and two goals in a minute just before the break from James Forrest and Scott Sinclair had Brendan Rodgers' men back in control of the Ladbrokes Premiership encounter.

However, the home side laboured after the break and allowed Martin Canning's visitors a few chances on the counter-attack before the final whistle confirmed a victory that kept them five points clear of Rangers and Aberdeen with a game in hand.

Graeme Murty further boosted his chances of landing the Rangers job permanently by masterminding a gritty 2-1 win over Hibernian at Easter Road.

The Ibrox caretaker has now added the scalp of Neil Lennon's team having previously taken those of Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes and Hearts manager Craig Levein.

Yet his team had to come from behind after Lewis Stevenson put Hibs ahead early with a deflected opener.

Josh Windass levelled with his fifth goal in eight games before Alfredo Morelos fired the goal which keeps Gers in second.

Aberdeen remain level on points after turning in an impressive performance to see off St Johnstone 3-0 at McDiarmid Park.

The win made it two from two for the Dons since McInnes announced his decision to stay on with the club.

Ryan Christie was particularly influential and grabbed a fortunate goal via a deflection on the hour mark after Adam Rooney and Kari Arnason had earned a two-goal lead at the break.

Alan Archibald celebrated his 40th birthday with three points as his Partick Thistle side held on for a 3-2 victory over Motherwell.

Motherwell were in generous mood on Archibald's landmark occasion as they shipped three goals in 12 first-half minutes against the league's bottom side - Blair Spittal, Ryan Edwards and Conor Sammon the men on target.

The visitors came out fighting and scored through Ryan Bowman and Craig Tanner to set up a thrilling finale but Partick held on.