Rangers moved six points clear of champions Celtic after showing enough resilience to fend off the threat of a first league defeat at Dunfermline for 33 years.

A freakish opener from Neil McCann had been wiped out by a fine Craig Brewster strike and Jimmy Calderwood's lively side were looking good value for at least a point.

But when Lorenzo Amoruso put his side back in front with as fine a strike as the defender will ever produce, the SPL leaders at last took a grip on the game and wrapped things up in stoppage time with a third from substitute Claudio Caniggia.

Until McCann got lucky in the 37th minute Rangers had threatened the Dunfermline goal just once.

That was when Amoruso played a forward ball firmly through the home defence to send Shota Arveladze in on goal.

But the Georgian, who had been restored to the team at Michael Mols' expense, could not beat Derek Stillie, who managed to deflect his shot around his left-hand post.

McCann wasted a good opportunity when he found himself in space on the left of the box but his compromise of a shot and a cross ended up clearing the crossbar.

But that combination eventually worked for the Scotland winger when he found himself on the right flank and Stillie, who was being challenged by Arveladze on the line, was unable to prevent his curling effort going straight in.

Championships are rarely won without a slice of luck and the home side, whose dismal record against Rangers is legendary, must have felt deflated going in at the break a goal down.

That was because the Pars had been by far the better side in the first half and could have taken the lead in only the ninth minute when former Ranger Barry Nicholson crossed from the right and Brewster met it first time to send the ball goalwards.

Stefan Klos is never going to be the Scottish Premier League's busiest goalkeeper but his reactions were instant and the ball ended up being deflected around a post.

The home side had opted to break up Brewster's prolific partnership with Stevie Crawford to allow new signing Noel Hunt to start, with Crawford dropping back to fill 'the hole'.

The speedy youngster was a constant nuisance to the Rangers back line and when Hunt collected a pass from newcomer Ged Brannan down the left his lay-off deserved better than Crawford's blast over.

But within four minutes of the restart Brewster had scored a deserved equaliser, with Hunt again involved.

The Irishman motored into space in the box but, after cutting inside, could only fire his shot off Klos. The rebound went straight to Brewster however and the striker blasted it into an empty portion of the net.

Rangers were rocking and had already lost defender Maurice Ross before the break to an apparent hamstring problem, with Bob Malcolm coming on.

Misfortune also robbed the game of Hunt on the hour mark when he had to be stretchered off following a challenge by Arthur Numan.

Rangers had at last emerged as a genuine threat by this point and fortune twice favoured the home side as the pressure mounted.

Ronald de Boer was convinced he should have been awarded a penalty but referee Hugh Dallas ignored his claims of being impeded at the near post by Andrius Skerla.

Stillie tipped a close-range header from Arveladze over the bar and when McCann whipped in the corner his poor punch fell right on to the head of Craig Moore at the far post and it needed Lee Bullen's intervention to prevent a goal.

But Rangers were at last in the ascendancy now and Amoruso provided a memorable finish after Hunt's replacement Steven Hampshire had fouled McCann 20 yards from goal.

Mikel Arteta tapped the free-kick to the Italian, whose howitzer of a shot screamed into the back of the net.

Hampshire almost made amends but Numan was able to hoof the ball away from just in front of the goal-line.

Mols came on for Arveladze towards the end and passed up a great opportunity in the 87th minute when he could fire only at Stillie's body after de Boer had opened up the home defence with a square ball.

Crawford should have put the ball in the back of the net instead of blasting over with the goal at his mercy, although Bullen's back-post foul on Amoruso meant it would not have counted anyway.

Caniggia, who had come on for Arteta, showed the duo how to finish in stoppage time at the other end when he nodded a McCann cross past Stillie to wrap up proceedings.

Teams

Dunfermline: Stillie, MacPherson (Kilgannon 79), Skerla, Bullen, Grondin, Nicholson, Brannan, Dair (Karnebeek 72), Hunt (Hampshire 63), Brewster, Crawford.

Subs Not Used: Ruitenbeek, Dempsey.

Booked: Skerla, Karnebeek.

Goals: Brewster 49.

Rangers: Klos, Ross (Malcolm 33), Moore, Amoruso, Numan, Ricksen, Ferguson, Arteta (Caniggia 77), de Boer, Arveladze (Mols 84), McCann.

Subs Not Used: McGregor, Bonnissel.

Booked: Amoruso.

Goals: McCann 38, Amoruso 71, Caniggia 90.

Att: 8,754

Ref: H Dallas (Scotland).