Ally McCoist's Rangers earned a much-needed 1-0 victory against Dundee United thanks to Kyle Lafferty's second half strike.
The Northern Ireland international planted a fine header beyond Dusan Pernis to give his side a 1-0 victory at Tannadice, after Johnny Russell had been sent off for the home side on the half-hour mark.
Russell was given his marching orders after an unseemly tangle with Kirk Broadfoot following a poor tackle on the Rangers man, and that gave McCoist's men a numerical advantage that they were able to exploit as Lafferty rose highest to nod home Gregg Wylde's cross shortly after the hour.
The home side had chances of their own to come away from the match with something, but were foiled by their opponents in a performance that will not have eased all the concerns for McCoist.
Later in the day, Celtic hammered Motherwell 4-0 in their clash at Parkhead to set themselves up perfectly for their Europa League group opener against Atletico Madrid on Thursday night.
Man-of-the match James Forrest helped himself to a brace with further goals from fellow midfielders Joe Ledley and Ki Sung-yueng as the disappointing Steelmen were dismantled with ease.
Neil Lennon's men will travel to Spain with confidence for what is sure to be more difficult task as they remained one point behind SPL leaders Rangers, whom they meet in the first Old Firm derby of the season at Ibrox next Sunday. All in all, it was a good afternoon's work for the Parkhead side who at no point looked like they may be troubled.
A superb second-half strike by Czech defender Zdenek Kroca helped Kilmarnock to a 3-2 victory over Dunfermline at Rugby Park.
The 62nd-minute effort sealed an entertaining encounter for the home side in which both teams held the lead.
Jason Thomson opened the scoring for Dunfermline but the visitors found themselves 2-1 behind following a double from Paul Heffernan. Dunfermline substitute Ryan Thomson netted an equaliser just after the break only for Kroca's wonderful effort to condemn them to their second straight league defeat.
At Caledonian Stadium Inverness were denied a victory over Hearts thanks to Stephen Elliot's finish nine minutes from time in a match that ended 1-1.
Gregory Tade's right-footed effort had given the home side the lead shortly after half-time, after a good pass from Nicky Ross, but Elliot was in the right place at the right time to sweep home David Templeton's cross and ensure the game finished 1-1.
Elsewhere, St Mirren and St Johnstone played out a 0-0 draw at St Mirren Park.
