Thomson thrilled as Rangers react to stay clear

Kevin Thomson admitted that Rangers were under pressure to deliver the points against Falkirk on Saturday after Celtic threw down the gauntlet with a win over Hamilton.

Victory in the lunchtime kick-off allowed Celtic to reduce Rangers' advantage at the summit of the Premier League to seven points. But the champions hit back just hours later with a 3-0 win to restore their 10-point lead and leave Falkirk rooted to the foot of the table, with Steven Davis, John Fleck and Steven Whittaker all on the scoresheet.

Thomson said: "We had to be on our guard, we knew Falkirk would come and make it difficult for us after getting a fantastic point at Parkhead so we had to play at a good tempo. With Celtic winning in the early kick-off we had to keep up our winning ways."

Celtic won 1-0 at Hamilton thanks to striker Morten Rasmussen's first goal for the club. The Dane scored three minutes after coming on for Georgios Samaras in the second half, but feels that he has some way to go to justify a place in the starting line-up."I still have to learn how the coach wants me to play and all the other things," he said.

Third-placed Hibernian beat St Mirren 2-1, St Johnstone won 1-0 at home to Hearts and Dundee United drew 4-4 at Kilmarnock having led 3-1 after 33 minutes.