Rangers' substitute Maurice Edu struck in injury time to seal a 1-0 win over ten-man Celtic yesterday to send the champions ten points clear in the Scottish Premier League.

The win all but extinguishes Celtic's faint hopes of catching Rangers in the race for the championship with Walter Smith's men also having a game in hand over their rivals.

"We struggled a bit in the first half but I felt we played far better in the second," the Rangers manager said.

"I didn't think at that stage we were going to get the goal so we were delighted obviously when we did."

In an explosive start Celtic had a chance within 30 seconds.

Slack defending from Sasa Papac allowed Marc-Antoine Fortune to pick out Robbie Keane with a cutback but his shot from 14 yards was saved by Allan McGregor.

Rangers hit back almost immediately when Steven Davis released Kris Boyd but Artur Boruc forced him out wide and he hit his shot into the side-netting.

Edu replaced the injured Lee McCulloch in the 26th minute and the American thought he had scored with his first touch.

Edu rifled a volley past Boruc but it was disallowed after Kenny Miller was adjudged to have handled the ball earlier in the move.

A minute later Miller had the chance to make amends as he raced into the box but Boruc blocked his lofted shot. At the other end, McGregor showed great reactions to save Keane's fierce volley.

Fortune wasted a golden chance to fire Celtic ahead on the stroke of half-time when he waltzed through the Rangers defence but then fired wide with only the keeper to beat.

Rangers were on the front foot in the second half. Boruc blocked a powerful low drive from Davis before recovering to save the Northern Irishman's shot on the rebound.

Then, Hoops captain Scott Brown was sent off in the 65th minute. He received a straight red after he collided with Kyle Lafferty and appearing to butt the chest of the Rangers man.

Edu broke the deadlock in injury time. Bougherra fired a shot low at Boruc who then made a point-blank save from Boyd's follow-up but couldn't stop Edu bundling the ball over the line.