Rangers moved top of the Scottish Premiership for the first time since February 2024 but made hard work of beating a dogged Dundee United side 4-2 at Ibrox.
The Gers struggled to shake off Jim Goodwin's side, who eyed a second Old Firm scalp in as many games after beating Celtic before the international break, until Bojan Miovski finally sealed victory to send Rangers to the league summit five minutes from time.
Dundee United would have been worth a point for large parts of the game in part through their refusal to throw in the towel, twice halving two-goal Rangers leads but lacking the quality to pull level.
Goodwin's men were the more assured in the opening half hour until Ashley Maynard-Brewer palmed Theo Aasgaard's long-range effort straight to Ryan Naderi to tap in Rangers' first, before Dujon Sterling's header doubled the hosts' advantage 10 minutes later.
But having recovered from that one-two combo, a swift counter-attack led by Emmanuel Agyei saw Amar Fatah give the visitors hope with a low finish in the final moments of the half.
It left a positive impression on Dundee United manager Goodwin, who said his side's performance had been "very strong" and added: "A lot of teams would go under [at 2-0 down], but credit to the players, they showed a positive reaction and scored a really good goal. I thought Fatah was the best player on the pitch all afternoon."
His side emerged from the interval pushing for an equaliser but were dealt a blow when half-time substitute Djeidi Gassama squared for Aasgaard to prod home from six yards seven minutes after the restart.
From then Rangers enjoyed their best spell with Gassama injecting some energy into the hosts' attack and twice teeing up fellow half-time sub Youssef Chermiti, but his profligacy stopped the would-be league leaders moving further ahead.
Instead United again threatened a comeback when Sapsford turned home Luca Stephenson's low cross with 18 minutes to go.
Despite the rising nerves around Ibrox, Rangers held on relatively comfortably before Miovski relieved any tension with a fine finish late on to confirm their position at the top of the table - at least until Hearts face Livingston on Sunday, live on Your Site.
Rangers head coach Danny Rohl on Your Site:
"The next three points is the most important thing. We don't look at the table at the moment, there's six games to go.
"It's a small step, not more. Until now we have achieved nothing and this is what we have to take.
"Another six games will come very fast. The next challenge is Falkirk, and they beat Motherwell today which is a good result.
"We have spoken about nine finals, we won the first three and now we have six more to go. The first game after the international break is always difficult."
Dundee United manager Jim Goodwin on Your Site:
"I thought the overall performance was very strong. The opening half an hour, there wasn't a great deal between the two teams.
"Goals change games, and the manner of the first goal is a real disappointment. Ash knows he needs to do better, he needs to catch the ball or tip it over."
