Rangers were glad to move back to the top of the Bank of Scotland Premier League but for a long while their three-goal win over Livingston was a joyless occasion.

The subdued tone had been set over the previous 48 hours when the Ibrox faithful had been hit with a double dose of unwanted news.

The failure to persuade Blackburn to allow former captain Barry Ferguson to return was a disappointment but the loss of keeper Stefan Klos was a far bigger setback.

A training ground accident ended Klos' season prematurely and the doom and gloom merchants were predicting that Rangers' title aspirations had come to a full stop as well.

But a sombre and silent home crowd was at least treated to a flurry of late attacking play and a debut to remember from new signing Sotirios Kyrgiakos.

The Greece international had been recruited to fill the gap left by Jean-Alain Boumsong's departure to Newcastle and the defender, who speaks English, had little difficulty coping with Livi's occasional attacking threats.

But it was as an unexpected creative force that he also made his mark, first by setting Dado Prso up for a 14th-minute opener.

His ball over the last defender had been perfectly weighted and Prso had little difficulty bringing it under control and slotting past the exposed Roddy McKenzie.

McKenzie was the reason why Richard Gough's pallid outfit were not out of the game by the break.

First he palmed away a Prso header at full stretch in the eighth minute and then, after being given no chance with the goal, tipped an effort from Nacho Novo round a post after the Spaniard had got the better of fellow-countryman Rubio in the box.

Novo then saw a volley from 20 yards parried and the only time McKenzie was not in control was from the resulting corner, when he had difficulty coping with a Krygiakos header at the foot of a post.

Happily for Livi there was a man on the line to hack clear and McKenzie was not required when Thomas Buffel fired into the side-netting following a cute lay-off from Novo.

Allan McGregor, fresh from a loan spell at St Johnstone, was the man who had inherited Klos' gloves, with manager Alex McLeish contemplating whether to bring in a more experienced 'keeper.

He had little to do in the first 45 minutes with an easy pouching of a Jamie Hand header his most taxing task.

McLeish had opted to give Michael Ball a rare start at left back and there was no sign of usual choice Gregory Vignal even on the bench.

Livi looked every inch the struggling side the league table indicates and Gough, the nine-in-a-row hero of Ibrox as a player, could not have been encouraged much by the contributions of new signings from Hungary, Attila Kriston and Gabor Vincze.

Mark Wilson, the on-loan midfielder from Middlesbrough at least put himself about a bit, as did another ex-Manchester United man Bojan Djordjic, who is patrolling the left of midfield at the moment.

Djordjic, not for the first time since leaving Old Trafford less than a month ago, was too zealous in his challenges and, having escaped a booking for body-checking Gustave Bahoken, limped off on the half hour mark after another mis-timed challenge.

Hamed Namouchi replaced him and should have made it 2-0 seconds after the restart when Rubio inexplicably gave him the ball in the Livi box. Namouchi, who is looking to begin his international career with the African champions soon, blazed wastefully over however.

McGregor's first test came when he had to dive at the feet of Derek Lilley, who had motored in at full speed having spotted that Marvin Andrews' back-header had been under-powered. The newcomer was hurt but able to continue.

Burton O'Brien was booked for a late challenge on Alex Rae, who had inherited the captain's armband from the stricken Klos.

Emmanuel Dorado escaped a red card for bringing Novo down as the Spaniard threatened to sprint clear but the foul was a costly one nonetheless as Fernando Ricksen blasted the free-kick past the wall and into the top corner to make it 2-0 in the 64th minute.

Within four minutes Novo had made it 3-0, diverting a Buffel volley past McKenzie with an outstretched boot, having first headed on a Prso cross from the left to the Belgian.

Rangers could relax even more now and Prso was replaced by Steven Thompson with 18 minutes remaining.

Rae saw a 30-yard effort bounce just wide of a goal vacated by McKenzie under pressure from Thompson and Buffel stabbed a late chance wide from point-blank range.

McGregor had the last word however, denying Lilley a consolation with a fine tip-over to suggest a new recruit might not be needed after all.

The three points took Rangers level with Celtic on 59 and ahead in the table on goal difference, at least until the Hoops finish tomorrow's bout with Kilmarnock at Rugby Park.

Livi remain rooted to the bottom, two points adrift of Dundee United.

Teams

Rangers McGregor, Ross, Andrews, Kyrgiakos, Ball, Ricksen, Alex Rae, Djordjic (Namouchi 29), Novo, Prso (Thompson 71), Buffel.

Subs Not Used: Graeme Smith, Malcolm, Burke, Hutton, Hughes.

Goals: Prso 14, Ricksen 63, Novo 68.

Livingston McKenzie, Rubio, Dorado, Bahoken, Vincze, Dair, Mark Wilson, Kriston (Easton 69), O'Brien, Hand (Brittain 78), Lilley.

Subs Not Used: Meldrum, Stanic, Harding, McPake, Horvath.

Booked: O'Brien, Dorado.

Att: 48,579

Ref: K Toner (Scotland).