Rangers moved nine points ahead of Celtic in the Scottish Premier
League title race on Saturday after beating Hamilton 1-0 as its
Glasgow rival was held 1-1 at home by bottom-place Falkirk.
Nacho Novo scored a second-half winner as an under-strength
Rangers moved closer to a second straight title.
"I was just delighted that we got the goal considering we
were down to the bare minimum of players," Rangers manager Walter
Smith said.
Smith had to select several youngsters as substitutes due to
first-team regulars being unavailable.With the usual strike
partnership of Kenny Miller and Kris Boyd unavailable through
suspension and injury respectively, Novo was deployed alongside
Kyle Lafferty.
Carl Finnigan gave Falkirk a 19th-minute lead after a slip by
Darren O'Dea, and Celtic struggled before Georgios Samaras leveled
with an individual goal five minutes before the break.
Dundee United moved past Hibernian to be third after a 1-0
win over the Edinburgh side at a rainy Tannadice.
Also Saturday, Motherwell beat Kilmarnock 3-0 and Michael
Stewart's first-half penalty gave Hearts a 1-0 victory over St.
Mirren.
