John Fleck netted his first goal for Rangers as they claimed victory over Dundee United and moved to within a point of Celtic in the Clydesdale Bank Scottish Premier League.

The teenager won, and then converted, a second-half penalty before Kyle Lafferty sealed the win in injury-time.

The previous meetings between the clubs had both ended in draws but United were forced to return to Tannadice empty-handed this time as Rangers piled the pressure on Celtic ahead of the champions' trip to Inverness tomorrow.

Nacho Novo was rewarded for his two goals in Tuesday night's Co-operative Insurance Cup semi-final win over Falkirk with another starting role, as boss Walter Smith made two changes from the Hampden clash.

Sasa Papac and Steven Naismith were both dropped to the bench and replaced by Steven Whittaker and Fleck.

United made three changes from their own epic cup tie with Celtic, which saw them loss 11-10 on penalties.

Flood's move to Celtic saw him replaced in midfield by David Robertson, while Darren Dods and Danny Grainger took the place of skipper Lee Wilkie and Paul Dixon.

Rangers carved out the first chance when Pedro Mendes released Kris Boyd, who laid the ball off to Steven Davis on the right but the midfielder's shot cannoned off the body of Grainger.

At the other end, Morgaro Gomis tried his luck from distance only to drag the shot wide, with Allan McGregor untroubled in the Rangers goal.

McGregor was then called into action to smother a close-range strike from Robertson when a Garry Kenneth ball into the box broke kindly to him in front of goal.

Rangers should have taken the lead when Novo embarked on an excellent run before unselfishly teeing up the shot for Boyd but the usually-prolific goalscorer missed the target completely when he side-footed wide from 10 yards.

The impressive Fleck then forced a superb one-handed save from Lukasz Zaluska when he saw his ferocious effort from the edge of the area tipped just over the crossbar by the Dundee United goalkeeper.

But Rangers suffered a blow shortly before the break when Novo pulled up with what appeared to be a hamstring strain and his place was taken by Kenny Miller.

Grainger picked up the first booking of the game for upending Madjid Bougherra 10 minutes after the restart.

The defender recovered enough to embark upon a blistering run down the right flank before squaring across the face of goal for Boyd.

But the striker was frustrated once again when his close-range volley was blocked by Zaluska as United held firm.

Lafferty replaced Boyd with just over 20 minutes to go and had the ball in the back of the net within a few minutes of being on the park, but only after being flagged offside.

The breakthrough eventually came with 77 minutes on the clock when Fleck was fouled in the area by Mihael Kovacevic.

The 17-year-old dusted himself off and coolly coverted from 12 yards to claim his first senior goal for Rangers and put the Ibrox side in the driving seat.

Lafferty then helped himself to a goal of his own in injury-time. Zaluska raced off his line to block from Barry Ferguson and the big striker was on hand to lash the rebound into the back of the net.

Miller then saw his shot saved by Zaluska before firing the rebound across the face of goal, but Rangers already had the points in the bag.

Teams

Rangers McGregor, Broadfoot, Bougherra, Weir, Whittaker,Davis, Mendes, Ferguson, Fleck, Novo (Miller 43),Boyd (Lafferty 74).

Subs Not Used: Alexander, Papac, McCulloch, Naismith, Niguez.

Booked: Fleck.

Goals: Fleck 78 pen, Lafferty 90.

Dundee Utd Zaluska, Kovacevic, Dods, Kenneth, Grainger,Feeney, Gomis, Buaben, David Robertson (Daly 80),Conway (Swanson 57), Sandaza (Goodwillie 70).

Subs Not Used: McGovern, Dillon, Shala, Dixon.

Booked: Grainger.

Att: 49,918

Ref: I Brines (Scotland).