Gers maintain four-point lead

The striker should finally learn this week whether his protracted £3million move to Fulham will be sanctioned by FIFA but he made the most of his involvement at Ibrox.

His opener was followed by goals from Naismith, Burke and Boyd, with Kenny Deuchar's double for Gretna never likely to prevent Rangers from maintaining their four-point lead over Celtic at the top of the SPL.

Burke had failed with a weak penalty claim and Carlos Cuellar had nodded wide from a corner before Cousin sparked the game into life with the opener after 13 minutes. He pounced on a header from captain Barry Ferguson and left marker Danny Hall in his wake before rounding goalkeeper Greg Fleming and slotting home from a tight angle.

There was worse to come for Gretna when Rangers doubled their advantage with 22 minutes on the clock, and Ferguson was the provider again. This time the delivery came from a corner and Naismith was waiting unmarked in front of goal to bury a shot on the turn from a few yards out.

Before half time Rangers goalkeeper Allan McGregor was forced to dive low to his left to smother a free-kick from Nicky Deverdics from the edge of the area, before Paul Murray's header smacked off the post.

Rangers claimed their third of the day after an hour. Jean Claude Darcheville did well to cut inside from the left flank before setting up Burke to rifle off the underside of the crossbar and into the back of the net to all but seal the win.

Rangers then made a double switch with Cousin and Darcheville withdrawn for Boyd and Nacho Novo, while Gretna replaced Murray and John Paul Kissock with Ben Wilkinson and Mikael Buscher.

Gretna gave themselves a glimmer of hope with 19 minutes remaining when substitute Buscher's corner was met by Deuchar, who nodded home from six yards.

Two goals followed in quick succession. Boyd rounded the goalkeeper to bag his 17th of the season with three minutes to go, before Deuchar nodded home his second of the day 60 seconds later.