Rangers secured the victory they craved ahead of their Champions League game against Villarreal.

But the Ibrox side made hard work of securing the three Bank of Scotland Premier League points.

A Kris Boyd header was cancelled out by Russell Latapy's strike and it was an own-goal from Mark Twaddle which proved to be the difference between the two sides.

It was hardly the ideal performance ahead of one of the most important European ties in the club's history but Rangers at least kept nearest rivals Hibernian at bay by holding onto third-place in the SPL.

Not for the first time this season, eyebrows were raised at Alex McLeish's team selection.

Olivier Bernard - out of action since November with a cartilage problem - was drafted into the top team, along with Boyd and Nacho Novo.

Hamed Namouchi was missing from the squad completely - suggesting he had picked up a knock in training ahead of the game - but Chris Burke and Peter Lovenkrands were surprising omissions.

Despite last week's 5-1 thrashing at the hands of Hibs in the Tennent's Scottish Cup, Falkirk made just one change; Latapy for Pedro Moutinho.

It was the home side who claimed the first real chance of the game when Liam Craig met a Twaddle throw-in and tried his luck with a speculative shot but the effort fell across the face of goal and wide.

A free-kick just outside the box gave Rangers the opportunity to put their hosts under pressure.

Steven Smith flighted the ball into the crowded box and Dado Prso was not too far away with the header from eight yards.

Jack Ross then came within an inch of nodding the ball into the back of his own net and Rangers failed to take advantage of the resultant corner when the ball broke to Julien Rodriguez and he fired wide.

Novo then had a go with a close-range shot but goalkeeper Allan Ferguson had clearly recovered from his ordeal last week and he produced a decent save at his near post.

Only the woodwork prevented Rangers from taking the lead before the break when Prso's header smacked off the crossbar and the danger was cleared by Craig before Sotirios Kyrgiakos could connect for the rebound.

It was no real surprise to see Burke introduced to the action after the break and that it was Bernard who was sacrificed was even less surprising.

Rangers quickly set about trying to make amends for a poor first-half and Novo should have done better with his volley from eight yards, but he fired well over.

Burke was already causing problems for the Falkirk full-backs and it was his delivery which set up Kyrgiakos for a shot at the back post. Rangers claimed Andy Lawrie handled the shot but the penalty pleas were ignored.

The breakthrough came after 57 minutes when Prso was hauled down 25 yards out by Lawrie. Barry Ferguson planted the resultant free-kick on the head of Boyd and he nodded home from the edge of the six-yard box.

At the other end of the park, there was a scare for Rangers when Ronald Waterreus spilled a Daniel McBreen effort and Smith had to act quickly to clear the danger.

McBreen was then the victim of an unintentional punch in the face from Waterreus but, after receiving treatment, he was able to continue.

Falkirk were back on level terms after 66 minutes when Patrick Cregg released Latapy into the box and Waterreus was left with no chance when the former Rangers playmaker kept his cool to slot home.

Rangers were back in front again with 20 minutes to go thanks to a scrappy own-goal from Falkirk.

Prso dragged the ball by the by-line before squeezing a shot at goal and Twaddle, in his attempts to clear, clumsily bundled the ball into the back of his own net.

Lovenkrands was introduced to the action for the final minutes of the game, in place of Novo, in the hope that he would supply the goal to kill off the threat of Falkirk.

But, in the end, Rangers held on for the 2-1 win.

Teams:

Falkirk Ferguson, Ross, Twaddle, Lawrie, Milne, Latapy, Cregg,Thomson, Craig (Moutinho 85), McBreen, Gow.

Subs Not Used: Howard, Scally, Santos, Theobold, Barr,

Rodrigues.

Booked: Craig, McBreen, Ross.

Goals: Latapy 66.

Rangers Waterreus, Hutton, Bernard (Burke 45), Rodriguez,Kyrgiakos, Ferguson, Hemdani, Smith, Novo (Lovenkrands 84),Prso, Kris Boyd.

Subs Not Used: Klos, Ricksen, Andrews, Gavin Rae, Ashikodi.

Booked: Kris Boyd, Bernard.

Goals: Kris Boyd 57, Twaddle 70 og.

Att: 6,343

Ref: C Richmond (Scotland).