Rangers up to third after 3-2 win over Inverness

Champions Rangers handed a debut defeat to Inverness Caledonian Thistle's new manager Charlie Christie by recording a 3-2 win in the Scottish Premier League yesterday.

The result moved Rangers up to third in the table with 43 points from 24 games.

Celtic (58 points), who were held to a 3-3 home draw by Dundee United on Saturday, have an eight-point lead over second-placed Hearts.

Striker Kris Boyd put Rangers ahead after six minutes before Thistle levelled with a neat finish from Craig Dargo. Trinidad and Tobago defender Marvin Andrews restored the lead for the visitors and Boyd grabbed his seventh goal in his fourth game since leaving Kilmarnock when he converted a penalty in the 57th minute.

Dennis Wyness set up a tense climax by heading a second goal for Thistle in the 72nd minute.

Rangers manager Alex McLeish rued a number of missed chances to finish off the match.

"I wasn't content but it was a great victory," he said. "We missed a hatful of chances, we were far too casual and we have got to be more ruthless," he said.

McLeish praised two-goal hero Boyd, saying: "We cannot ask any more for his goals return. He knows where to go in the box and he has the prowess to be elusive in there."