Rangers consolidated second place in the Scottish Premier League with a 1-0 win at bottom club Dunfermline on Sunday. Charlie Adam slid in after nine minutes to score the game's only goal following a good run and low cross from Spaniard Nacho Novo.

Rangers, who handed a debut to new signing David Weir, trail runaway leaders Celtic by a massive 17 points. Celtic, who have 62 points from 25 games, hammered St Mirren 5-1 on Saturday.

Rangers manager Walter Smith praised his defence for dealing with the pressure Dunfermline mounted. "We have to be pleased in terms of resilience," he told Setanta TV. "We have started to show we can take in a bit of pressure and handle that...which Rangers have not done for the majority of the season.

"Credit to Dunfermline, although they are stuck at the bottom they worked very hard and kept us under pressure."

Rangers survived a couple of first-half penalty claims. Adam controlled the ball with hand inside the box on 38 minutes and Swedish defender Karl Svensson blocked Stevie Crawford's shot with his elbow five minutes later.

Hibernian wasted the chance to move above Aberdeen into fourth on Sunday when they crashed 3-0 at Inverness Caley Thistle.