Rangers moved back to the top of the Bank of Scotland Premier League with an assured win over Dunfermline.

They will remain there only for 24 hours however, unless previous leaders Celtic lose at Aberdeen, with the two Glasgow rivals currently separated only by goal difference.

Steven Thompson, Marvin Andrews and Alex Rae were the men on target for the home side who dominated without needing to find top gear.

Rangers fans look forward to Dunfermline's visits to Ibrox, and the final game of the season two years ago, when the Pars were thrashed 6-1 to enable the title to be won on goal difference from Celtic, is particularly cherished.

The Fifers had not won at Rangers since the 1972-73 season or even kept a clean sheet since 1967, and it was immediately apparent that the sequence was not going to be broken when the home side scored from their first attack, in the sixth minute.

Hamed Namouchi was the man who set it up with a low cross from the right which Andrius Skerla was alive to at the near post.

The Lithuanian slid in to stop new signing Thomas Buffel connecting and notching a goal on his home debut, but he only succeeded in diverting the ball into the path of Thompson who lashed home for his seventh goal of an injury-hit campaign.

Thompson had been one of four players brought into the team following last week's Tennent's Scottish Cup defeat at Celtic, a game in which Buffel and Bojan Djordjic made their Rangers bows.

Nacho Novo was absent through suspension today but Dado Prso, Zura Khizanishvili and Alan Hutton were relegated to the bench as Bob Malcolm and Maurice Ross came back in.

The injury-hit visitors, who have so far resisted Aberdeen interest in former Ger Barry Nicholson, were hardly troubled for a 30-minute spell after the opener.

However Andy Tod was relieved that Thompson could not make full capital of an under-weighted header intended for his goalkeeper, Derek Stillie.

Rangers doubled their lead in the 38th minute from a Fernando Ricksen corner when Andrews lashed home after Namouchi had challenged Stillie on the goal-line.

Djordjic, the former Manchester United midfielder who is hoping to keep Peter Lovenkrands out of the left midfield position, should have made it 3-0 straight afterwards.

However, somehow he managed to hit the top of the bar instead of the net after a square pass from Ricksen had set him up.

Dunfermline had been limited to the occasional long-range effort before half-time, plus a few set-pieces, and had shown few signs of ending their winless run in Govan.

Pars boss Davie Hay swapped midfielder Darren Young for forward Noel Hunt at the break, but there was little change in the pattern of the game, with the home side continuing to dominate.

Namouchi headed an Alex Rae cross over, before Gary Dempsey found the top of the Rangers net with a free-kick at the other end.

Ricksen was next to pass up a goalscoring opportunity just before the hour mark when he managed to head wide at the back post from inside the six-yard box, after a Djordjic free-kick had been diverted there by a Dunfermline head.

A third goal did arrive in the 63rd minute after Andrews had entertained the crowd with an air shot and a follow-up effort which was saved.

Rae was the man on target, heading home his first Rangers goal since rejoining the club which had jettisoned him as a teenager, with Ricksen having supplied the cross from the right.

With the game well won, Namouchi was replaced by Chris Burke in the 66th minute to allow the winger another attempt at a comeback following a collection of illnesses.

Djordjic was booked in the 75th minute for disputing one decision too many as far as referee Charlie Richmond was concerned. He was replaced four minutes later by Michael Ball.

Buffel's quiet Ibrox debut was ended with seven minutes remaining, Stephen Hughes coming on for the closing minutes of a comfortable victory.

Teams:

Rangers: Klos, Ross, Malcolm, Andrews, Vignal, Namouchi (Burke 66), Ricksen, Alex Rae, Djordjic (Ball 79), Thompson, Buffel (Hughes 83).

Subs Not Used: McGregor, Prso, Khizanishvili, Hutton.

Booked: Djordjic.

Goals: Thompson 6, Andrews 38, Alex Rae 64.

Dunfermline: Stillie, Ross, Tod, Skerla, Scott Thomson, Nicholson, Dempsey, Mason, Makel, Darren Young (Hunt 45), Christiansen.

Subs Not Used: Langfield, Campbell, Craig Wilson, Scullion, Dunn.

Att: 48,055

Ref: C Richmond (Scotland).