RANGERS aren't so much counting the games up anymore, they are counting them down. Yesterday's wasn't quite one of those typically unfussy wins Walter Smith's men have patented.

Dean Shiels pulling the score back to 2-1 with two minutes to play ensured a hairier-than-usual end. But the Ibrox men were good for a victory that left them potentially only six games away from the Scottish Premier League title.

It was comfortably enough earned to quell any notions that they might wobble on reaching the 50-game mark of their four-trophy chasing season. And it was a half century they brought up with a ton – Jean Clude Darcheville's crashing effort shortly before the interval their 100th goal of the season. "It is a pleasing statistic when you consider we don't play any forwards," Smith said with heavy sacrasm. When substitute Nacho Novo added a second 11 minutes from time, Hibernian, till then frankly hopless, looked buried. Shiels, a 57th minute substitute, gave them hope of a revival, but it was all too brief.

Novo's intervention would have been particularly galling for the away support. The little Spaniard was sent off when the sides met in the Scottish Cup earlier this month for two-footed lunge on Hibernian right-back Thierry Gathuessi. His intervention yesterday was decidedly more edifying.

Rangers possess a laudable ability to grind away, like the footballing equivalent of snooker's Terry Griffith. They commit to tackles, close down space, push the ball around between themselves in methodical fashion and wait for the little moments when openings pop up or opportunities can be created to win games. They make these count and the Leith club's manager Mixu Paatelainen could only offer respect for superior opponents. "People talk about Rangers players being tired but their midfielders were first to every ball," he said. "They were sharp and hungrier to make things happen."

There isn't a whole heap of things that dazzle about the SPL leaders except for their capacity to collect wins. But that is the ultimate thing of beauty when you glance at a league table. It now shows that, after 12 straight SPL wins and a 49 point haul from a posible 51, the Ibrox side have a six-point lead over rivals Celtic, the two teams now having played 28 games. Gordon Strachan's side play Gretna this afternoon before heading to Ibrox on Saturday, and a win for Rangers then would surely put them in the home straight.

Smith delighted in "two good finishes" and these were the product of only a handful chances in an encounter the Rangers manager was kind on when he conceded "it was scrappy in patches". Rangers are efficient and can depend on a variety of forwards chipping in with goals. The importance of this was shown when a neat ball from Sasa Papac disected two Hibs defenders and allowed Darcheville to burrow into the box. As Chris Hogg backed off him, the Frenchman cranked back his leg and battered a shot high past the defender and the unsighted Yves Ma-Kalambay. Rangers' second found Hogg again at fault. When Steven Davis hoisted a ball into the box from the right touchline the Hibs centre-back contrived to head it into the path of Novo, who smeared an effort high into the net. "It wasn't our best performance defensively, that is for sure," Paatelainen admitted. Offensively, the same could be said. It didn't help that Steven Fletcher suffered a back strain but the striker said afterwards he would be fit to join up with George Burley's first Scotland squad for the midweek friendly against Croatia

Oddly for a team that last weekend claimed a first trophy in three seasons with CIS Cup success, Rangers stepped on to the Ibrox pitch yesterday seeking atonement for sins. Well, principally the six men in the home side who also featured in the first XI for the dodgy draw against Partick Thistle in the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup on Wednesday night. Barry Ferguson – who looked diminished by the ankle problem he visited specialists for this week – Darcheville, David Weir, Papac late substitute in midweek Lee McCulloch were the five blameless for that game-adding outcome in a campaign creaking under the weight of them.

Hibs failed to take advantage of their opponents' weariness. In fact, there was so little urgency from Paatelainen's side in the opening period it was hard to believe they were a team with serious designs on third place in the SPL. Colin Nish was left isolated and there seemed no attempt from them to play in their opponents' half. The Finn may have steadied a ship that was listing under John Collins, but the former manager would have least tried to exert pressure at Ibrox. It is why he remains the last manager to guide a visiting Scottish team to success at the ground.

That was way back in October and since then Rangers have become game hardened, game savvy. And Hibs seemed in no mood to make them work for three points until Shiels was sent on for Filipe Morais in 57 minutes. He forced Allan McGregor to push away a neat flick that saw him capitalise on a rare error from Carlos Cuellar before he rattled the bar with a delightful lob and then thundered in the rebound. Hibs forced a couple of corners but Rangers never exhibited any real panic.

The Ibrox men will now have the benefit of a free midweek before potentially facing 17 games – a total that would require two more rounds in Europe and the UEFA Cup final – in the remaining seven weeks of the season. If teams make it as easy for them as the Leith club did yesterday, then their legs, and their nerve, should hold. For a domestic treble anyway.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Kevin Thomson was a man possessed yesterday and the energy he expended demonstrated that fatigue won't be a concern for a number of players who are just returning to the squad after lengthy absence. Showed exactly the desire Walter Smith's men will require.


ASIDE: The stadium announcer came over all Norman Collier any time he tried to give details of substitutions. It hardly helped that the off-putting signal break-up caused him to stumble over his words.