Gabriel Amato grabbed the first hat-trick of his Rangers career to sink Motherwell at Fir Park this afternoon.

Out of form and out of favour until a couple of months ago, Amato struck with the clinical accuracy his team-mates lacked to complete a romp to victory the champions could scarcely believe.

Amato opened the scoring after 16 minutes when he curled a delicate strike wide of goalkeeper Andy Goram after the Argentinian had been found in the area by Andrei Kanchelskis.

He then struck twice in five minutes after the break to complete his treble.

His second goal was a gem and will give Motherwell boss Billy Davies nightmares.

Rangers cleared after an enterprising Motherwell raid which ended with Derek Adams failing to find Ged Brannan, who was unmarked at the far post.

Amato picked the ball up 40 yards out and did not lift his head until he was running round the back of the Motherwell goal.

By that time he had dribbled round the entire home defence, plus advancing keeper Goram, all mesmerised by a ball seemingly stuck to Amato's feet.

The hat-trick goal owed everything to the generosity of Jorg Albertz, who passed up a penalty after Rod Wallace had been fouled in the area by Jamie McGowan.

Amato blasted the ball home in belligerent fashion and walked out of the ground with it at the end of the game.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst had already made it 2-0 seven minutes before the interval when he smashed a first-time volley past Goram.

And Kanchelskis made it five just past the hour after Stephen McMillan failed to control an Amato pass.

On an horrific day which brought back memories of their 7-1 home thrashing by Celtic earlier in the season - at least they had a man sent off on that occasion - the only bright note for Motherwell was a consolation for substitute Steven Nicholas.

But even his first goal for the club only found its way in via a wicked deflection.

Without a trio of key defenders, Motherwell boss Davies knew his side would have a tough task repeating the 1-0 victory over their illustrious visitors earlier in the season.

But it soon became apparent that the Rangers strikers were determined to enjoy themselves.

With Claudio Reyna and Van Bronckhorst pulling the strings, Rangers simply tore the Motherwell rearguard apart.

The passing at times was sloppy but there was no disputing the intelligent movement which was too much for the home side to cope with.

It took a flying lunge and Goram's fingertips to turn Van Bronckhorst's 20-yard strike onto a post and Kanchelskis fired high and mighty from a good position on the right.

But it merely turned out to be a stay of execution before Amato swept in the opener, Kanchelskis once again missing out on the easiest of opportunities as he dragged the ball across Goram's goal when free shortly before Van Bronckhorst's second.

The Motherwell fans grew increasingly restless at their side's woeful attempts to keep the champions at bay.

Even the tireless John Spencer, determined to excel against his former club, was not exempt from criticism.

The tiny forward dropped back to try and restore order, creating Motherwell's best chance by picking out Adams in the Rangers area when the scores were still level.

If Adams had scored the outcome might have been different, but instead the front-man panicked and lofted the ball over Stefan Klos, over the bar and into the top tier of Rangers fans sitting behind the goal.

The second half belonged to Rangers and Amato with, amazingly, Goram remaining in outstanding form.

The former Rangers idol tipped one shot round the post from Albertz, saved another from Jonatan Johansson, then saw the Finn fire marginally wide as the game entered its closing stages.

Teams

Motherwell: Goram, Brannan, McGowan, Craigen, Gower (Ramsey 59), Valakari, Spencer, McMillan, Goodman (Nicholas 45), Adams (Nevin 59), McCulloch.

Subs Not Used: Lasley, Woods.

Booked: McCulloch.

Goals: Nicholas 74.

Rangers: Klos, Porrini, Amoruso, Wilson, Kanchelskis, Van Bronckhorst (McInnes 65), Reyna (Riccio 74), Albertz, McCann (Johansson 65), Amato, Wallace.

Subs Not Used: Nicholson, Brown.

Goals: Amato 16, Van Bronckhorst 37, Amato 51, 54 pen,Kanchelskis 65.

Att: 11,078

Ref: D Mcdonald (Edinburgh).