Rangers moved up to second in the Scottish Premiership and cut leaders Hearts' advantage to three points with a 5-1 win over Kilmarnock at Ibrox.
The evening started well for Danny Röhl's Gers, with the news Celtic's game at Aberdeen had been postponed due to a waterlogged pitch. That gave them the chance to leapfrog their rivals into second and close in on the Jambos.
It got better inside five minutes, too. Killie's Dominic Thompson clumsily brought down Djeidi Gassama as the Rangers man looked to control a neat pass to feet, leading to referee David Dickinson awarding a penalty and showing the left-back a straight red card.
James Tavernier made no mistake from the spot, yet the storm expected to follow did not materialise. Mikey Moore looked bright when he cut in from the left on numerous occasions, but there was a distinct lack of urgency or creativity otherwise.
Despite being down to 10, the visitors should have at least been level by the break. Greg Kiltie charged down the right and cut the ball back for Bruce Anderson, who somehow swept a shot across the face of goal and behind when it looked simpler to score.
Rangers breathed a sigh of relief when Bojan Miovski fired in a low shot, after an exchange of passes with Mohamed Diomande, to double their lead just before the hour, which seemed to take the wind from their opponents' sails.
January signing Andreas Skov Olsen made it 3-0 with 16 minutes to play with a stylish finish after Moore's square ball, but a touch of gloss was taken from an otherwise solid second-half performance when Jack Butland gifted Kiltie a consolation when his misjudged clearance was seized on.
But Rangers soon made them wish they had never done so.
Debutant Tuur Rommens teed up Oliver Antman to roll in a fourth in the 90th minute, before Moore scored the goal his stellar performance more than deserved when he stroked home after Antman turned provider.
Rangers head coach Danny Röhl speaking to Your Site:
"Five nice goals. Also good to see that some players scored and got some minutes. I'm happy for the group. They work very hard to win games and games and games. We knew before the game it would not be an easy one.
"I'm very positive about this first situation, the pen, because we spoke after the Hibs game exactly about these runs and, in this case, Gassama made exactly the aggressive run we need more.
"Everyone who plays football knows what it means when 10 players are behind the ball; you have to break them, you need the patience, and then we created good opportunities, had a lot of possession, a lot of shots, created opportunities to score more. But 5-1, it's a good step, not more.
"I'm very on the ground at the moment. I know it's 13 games to go, still a long way, but my group is outstanding and they deserve a lot of credit."
Kilmarnock manager Neil McCann speaking to Your Site:
"There was so much to like about it [our performance]. I genuinely felt that we were the better side in the first half, with 10 men. We gassed a wee bit in the second because we were still asking them to bomb forward. There's one or two players that have recovered from injury to go into last weekend's game and then we asked them to go again because they deserved to, and they just tired.
"There's a couple of pivotal moments in the match that I think have gone against us. Dom Thompson doesn't see Gassama coming; Gassama probably slows up a little bit and initiates the contact. It's so harsh because I don't think every foul in the box should be a red card, but I understand the laws of the game. From then, we reacted brilliantly.
"But the big moment in the match for me is at 1-0, when James Tavernier is already on a yellow card and we've got a ball over the top, where our striker Tyreece John-Jules is in on goal - and he completely shoves him. There's contact there, without question, and it's every bit as big a contact as Thompson's, yet I'm told it's not enough contact. I can't understand what that means.
"I spoke to the fourth official, who was excellent tonight, I have to say. I asked him why it's not a red card and the explanation I got, coming from the referee, was that there's not enough contact. It's natural contact. It's not - it's coming from behind. James Tavernier has got himself in a position where we're goal-side and the contact is made from a player who is on the turn and he's in on goal. Whether it's a yellow or a red, James Tavernier's already on a yellow and he should've been sent off.
"I feel it's a bit of an injustice to look at that scoreline. I've said to them in the changing room that they should be proud of themselves, in terms of they never, ever gave up. They never, ever became separated. They were a complete team tonight. I think there's a spirit in that dressing room, there's a bravery about them as well that I'm so encouraged about moving forward."
