With the Scottish Premier League trophy all but dusted off with victory at Parkhead earlier this month, Rangers applied a bit of polish at Ibrox to confirm their superiority over Celtic.

Jorg Albertz gave Rangers the lead after just four minutes and the home side doubled their tally through Andrei Kanchelskis before half-time. Then they concentrated on turning on the style.

Celtic were pulled apart for much of the second half and with six minutes remaining they went to pieces as first Albertz turned in his second goal then Giovanni van Bronckhorst claimed Rangers' fourth.

Beforehand Kenny Dalglish had insisted the Glasgow giants had been well-matched this term and that Rangers had ridden their luck in the three previous encounters.

It was different as Dick Advocaat's men extended their League lead over Celtic to a virtually impregnable 15 points with the kind of performance which hinted the table does not lie.

Now the pressure will now be on the Parkhead club to explain what plans are in motion for next season after a result which may yet persuade Dalglish against becoming head coach.

Last week's CIS Insurance Cup success aside, Celtic's campaign has been a miserable one with John Barnes' short stay at the helm unable to make any impact on Rangers' domestic dominance.

Under Dutchman Advocaat there is a ruthlessness about the Ibrox outfit suggesting that aside from the gulf between the Old Firm and the rest there is now a gap in class between the Glasgow pair themselves.

There was no place even on the bench for Celtic's Alan Stubbs, presumably because of injury, but the visitors did welcome back Paul Lambert for his first competitive start of the year.

The Scotland international, who now comes into contention for Wednesday's friendly with France, suffered ankle ligament damage in the Old Firm clash at Parkhead on December 27.

Rangers were without the injured Craig Moore meaning Scott Wilson started, but had Arthur Numan fit again while in another boost to national boss Craig Brown was that Billy Dodds was chosen ahead of Seb Rozental.

The pre-match talk had been of Celtic's need to attack from the outset, but instead it was Rangers who moved ahead after only four minutes through Albertz.

Van Bronckhorst's corner found Kanchelskis lurking at the far post and he directed the ball back across goal for German midfielder Albertz to nod in from close range.

Celtic endured another blow moments later when, in attempting to tackle Rod Wallace, Stephane Mahe suffered what looked like a serious leg injury and had to be carried off.

Olivier Tebily filled in at right-back and Celtic mustered an attack as Vidar Riseth's cross enabled Mark Viduka to set up Lubomir Moravcik for a shot on the turn that was blocked.

Both sides then struggled to seize control of a frantic game, Jackie McNamara's frustration at Celtic's failure to make an impression showing in a needless booking for dissent.

The tackles were by now flying in with referee Willie Young opting to be lenient despite Johnson crashing into Claudio Reyna and Lambert catching van Bronckhorst.

The official angered the home support by then, booking Barry Ferguson for a foul on Lambert with Arthur Numan also earning a yellow card for voicing his protests to the official.

Johan Mjallby made an important saving tackle to deny Wallace running onto a threaded Albertz pass, but five minutes before the break Rangers were able to double their advantage.

Van Bronckhorst was again the man who created it, releasing Kanchelskis for a clear run at goal before the Russian finished calmly by slotting under the advancing Jonathan Gould for 2-0.

Celtic needed to make an instant impact after the restart but when Viduka fell in the area under challenge from Lorenzo Amoruso the verdict was a booking for the Australian for diving.

Ferguson saw a chip float onto the roof of the net moments later after a fine Reyna pass before the home team did find a way to goal again only to see the effort disallowed.

Wallace beat Mjallby on the left before crossing for Dodds who appeared to beat Gould at the second attempt, but referee Young ruled the forward offside.

Johnson found the side-netting for Celtic, but by now Rangers were in command with every pass being cheered by the home faithful who must have been stunned at the ease victory was being achieved.

Gould kept Celtic in the game with an impressive double save, first thwarting van Bronckhorst from distance then recovering quickly to hold Dodds' rebound.

The closest Celtic came was a bizarre mis-kick from Wilson which Reyna needed to hack off the line. Moments later, Rangers replaced the tiring Dodds with another Scotland international, Neil McCann.

The winger at once had a shot just over the bar then set up Wallace for a free header which the former Leeds striker conspired to send straight at a grateful Gould.

Celtic's final gamble was to bring on Mark Burchill for Lambert and they almost pulled a vital goal back on 71 minutes when Johnson broke clear but Klos was equal to the task.

Rangers were eager for a third and should have got it with 13 minutes remaining when Albertz forced his way through only to over-hit his attempted lob over Gould.

Their wait was over in the 84th minute when McCann again made ground on the left before crossing for Albertz to hook the ball into an empty net from barely a yard out.

Now Celtic were reeling and two minutes later it was 4-0 to Rangers as van Bronckhorst collected the ball on the edge of the area and drilled it low past a despairing Gould to complete a resounding victory.

Teams:

Rangers: Klos, Amoruso, Numan, Ferguson, Kanchelskis, Van Bronckhorst, Wallace, Albertz (Tugay 85), Reyna, Wilson,Dodds (McCann 64).

Subs Not Used: Charbonnier, Nicholson, Penttila.

Booked: Numan, Ferguson.

Goals: Albertz 4, Kanchelskis 41, Albertz 84,Van Bronckhorst 87.

Celtic: Gould, Riseth, Mahe (Tebily 7), Boyd, Mjallby, McNamara, Lambert (Burchill 71), Petrov, Viduka, Moravcik, Johnson.

Subs Not Used: Kerr, Berkovic, Healy.

Booked: McNamara, Viduka, Petrov.

Att: 50,039

Ref: Willie Young (Scotland).