Woe for Rangers, Motherwell keep chase

A turbulent week for Rangers ended in further disappointment as they crashed to a 1-0 defeat at home by Kilmarnock in the Scottish Premier League in their first match since being forced into administration. The official attendance confirmed that 50,268 fans packed into Ibrox to show their backing for manager Ally McCoist and his players during the club's darkest hour. However, Dean Shiels grabbed the only goal of the game to inflict Rangers' first home defeat of the season in the league, with a red card for Sasa Papac adding to the misery. "It hurts an awful lot because we all really wanted to get three points for the supporters," McCoist said. "It goes without saying we go out and try and do our best and try to win games at the best of times but today is really painful that we didn't manage to do it for the fans." Motherwell kept up their chase of second-placed Rangers with a 3-0 victory over Hearts at Fir Park. Keith Lasley's deflected shot off Andy Webster and a Jamie Murphy header gave the Steelmen a first-half advantage before the Well skipper was sent off five minutes after the break for picking up a second yellow card, both of which were for fouls on Gorgie midfielder Ian Black. Motherwell shrugged off the numerical disadvantage, though, and midfielder Nicky Law finished off a fine move in the 65th minute by driving past Jamie MacDonald to seal the win. Dunfermline missed the chance to move off the bottom of the table after being held to a 1-1 draw by Inverness. Joe Cardle's first-half goal put the Pars in the driving seat, but Nick Ross grabbed a deserved equaliser after 75 minutes. Finally, Dundee United and St Mirren played out a goalless draw in a low-key encounter at Tannadice.