Barry Ferguson claimed his first goal of the season to secure the points against Hamilton and keep Rangers at the summit of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League.

The Ibrox skipper was born and raised in the Lanarkshire town but, with the title race so close, there was no room for nostalgia as he grabbed the only goal of the game.

Ferguson had not found the back of the net since May last year but picked the ideal opportunity to rediscover his goalscoring touch.

Despite Celtic's 7-0 thrashing of St Mirren which followed Rangers' lunchtime victory, Walter Smith's side retained top spot on goal difference.

A ground-record crowd of 5,895 - including Derby County boss Nigel Clough - packed into New Douglas Park to watch the SPL's two form teams in action.

Rangers were dealt a blow ahead of the game with the news that Pedro Mendes was out after the midfielder picked up a thigh strain in training and failed to make the trip.

His absence paved the way for a rare starting role for Maurice Edu, while Kyle Lafferty was given the nod ahead of John Fleck, who had to settle for a place on the bench.

Lafferty was keen to make the most of his involvement and called Tomas Cerny into action after just a couple of minutes.

The Northern Ireland international unleashed a powerful right-foot shot but was denied an early opener by an equally impressive block from the Hamilton goalkeeper.

Rangers looked dangerous in the opening spell and Kenny Miller set up Steven Davis for the header but his effort flashed across the face of goal and wide of the upright.

Accies then had a decent chance of their own when James McCarthy tried his luck with a ferocious shot from a tight angle and only an excellent save from Allan McGregor prevented the home side from surging into the lead.

Miller was causing problems and skipped past his marker before seeing a point-blank effort tipped just over the bar by Cerny.

Accies then made their first change when they swapped Chris Swailes for James Gibson with just 24 minutes on the clock, in what appeared to be a tactical switch in a bid to snuff out the threat of the striker.

Rangers had looked more likely to find the back of the net and they opened the scoring with 35 minutes gone.

Davis played a short corner to David Weir before collecting the ball again and punting a cross into the box to Madjid Bougherra.

He nodded down into the path of Ferguson and the skipper rifled a low, left-footed shot into the bottom corner of the net - the first league goal Accies had lost at home since Paul Hartley's winner for Celtic back in November.

Only the woodwork prevented Rangers from doubling their advantage when Kirk Broadfoot's header was nodded towards goal by Miller only for Cerny to touch the effort onto the bar.

Kris Boyd had been reasonably quiet by his standards but was more involved in the action in the second half.

He threw himself in front of a Davis corner and should have found the back of the net but nodded well off-target instead.

The striker was then released into the box by Davis and found himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper but Cerny was up to the challenge and managed to smother a well-struck shot.

Boyd was involved again when he raced into the box before squaring to Davis as he bore down on goal but a well-timed challenge from Simon Mensing prevented the midfielder from unleashing a clean shot at goal.

Hamilton piled forward in search of a late equaliser but found themselves frustrated by staunch defending from the SPL leaders.

Instead, it was Rangers who almost netted again in the final moments when Edu picked out Davis in plenty of space in front of goal but, this time, his volley was cleared by an excellent clearance by Kenny Deuchar.

Teams:

Hamilton Cerny, McClenahan (Elebert 49), Swailes (Gibson 24),Neil, Canning (Deuchar 62), Easton, McGowan, Mensing, McArthur,McCarthy, Offiong.

Subs Not Used: Murdoch, Thomas, Lyle, Quinn.

Booked: Mensing, Neil.

Rangers McGregor, Broadfoot, Weir, Bougherra, Papac, Davis,Ferguson, Edu, Lafferty (Whittaker 74), Boyd,Miller (Naismith 84).

Subs Not Used: Alexander, Beasley, Dailly, Niguez, Fleck.

Booked: Ferguson, Davis.

Goals: Ferguson 35.

Att: 5,895

Ref: C Thomson (Scotland).