RANGERS managed the admirable little feat of going to Arbroath for a January cup game and making themselves perfectly comfortable.

They navigated this William Hill Scottish Cup tie beside the North Sea without allowing the team from the second division to make waves for them. There was no shock and no drama, only the footnote of Ally McCoist recording his first win in a domestic cup tie as Rangers manager.

It was done without fuss and without the need for any pulses to quicken. In truth it all petered out quietly as the locals' enthusiasm drained away as Rangers kept scoring. David Healy and an own goal had them relaxed and cruising after just 22 minutes and Nikica Jelavic and Salim Kerkar embellished the win with a couple more in the second half. The absence of several Rangers players through suspension and injury turned out to be an irrelevance. McCoist was able to reflect on a job done well, with the Ibrox side's obvious superiority questioned only in the opening minutes when Arbroath were full of vim.

This tournament is not the top priority for Rangers this season but it would be only human nature if McCoist has imagined himself holding up the old trophy at Hampden in May. It still rankles with them that as holders they were toppled from the Scottish Communities League Cup at Falkirk. Arbroath were much more modest opponents, though.

Rangers didn't get Gayfield at its most inhospitable. The pitch was bobbly but the weather was mild; dry and with little wind. At kick-off this evocative venue crackled as the two sets of supporters got themselves going. A smoke bomb and flare were lit in the Rangers end just before the match and another one early in the second half. That didn't impress the local police, who will use film footage in an attempt to identify who was responsible.

Arbroath did their best. They pressed, grafted and harried and frustrated the visitors for almost 20 minutes. They might have really put the cat among the pigeons after only six minutes when they had the first chance of the match. Carlos Bocanegra, captaining Rangers for the first time, slipped and allowed Steven Doris clean through. He ought to have hit the target but pulled his shot across goal and wide. Rangers breathed again. There was another reprieve for them when Allan McGregor leapt expertly to push a Josh Falkingham volley over the bar. Gayfield roared with approval, but that turned out to be as close as Rangers came to being bothered.

Arbroath were lapping it up but soon the whole thing was punctured as Rangers buried their first chance of the match. They had struggled to get any rhythm going, getting choked by Arbroath's defending, and then all of a sudden they cut them open and took the lead. Maurice Edu and Jelavic combined to slip a ball to Healy, whose low, confident finish beat Darren Hill in the Arbroath goal. Within four minutes Rangers scored again to effectively finish the game as a contest. Jelavic played a one-two with Sone Aluko before firing the ball across the goal mouth. Centre-half Craig Wedderburn couldn't do anything beyond deflecting it into his own net.

Predictably the goals subdued Arbroath as Rangers' attacks became more effective. John Fleck started in central midfield alongside Edu but Rangers tried to use with width of Aluko and Lee Wallace to feed balls in for Jelavic and Healy. Both of the forwards finished with a goal and McCoist was pleased with them as a partnership. Arbroath had held them for a while but gradually the chances for the Glasgow side began to accumulate. Aluko forced a good save out of Hill with one shot and then tried another which the goalkeeper dived to push away.

Rangers were without Kyle Lafferty, Steven Davis, Lee McCulloch, Steven Whittaker, Kirk Broadfoot and Steven Naismith, but the starting side still had experience. Kyle Bartley was the only man in an unfamiliar position at right-back. He wasn't tested although his afternoon ended in discomfort when he has hurt when blocking a Lee Bryce effort and had to limp off with a twisted ankle, although this won't add him to the list of absentees.

The third came after an hour when Aluko threaded a pass to Jelavic, who steered a low shot off the foot of the post into the net. At the moment every appearance by the Croat has the potential to be his last for Rangers. No-one will rush into a bid on the back of the 26-year-old managing a goal against Arbroath but, all the same, he stuck it away with aplomb. Kerkar smashed in a more eye-catching fourth 13 minutes from time in one of his rare appearances as a substitute.

Arbroath had claimed for a penalty when Lee Sibanda was tackled by Dorin Goian but referee Calum Murray wasn't interested. The home side melted out of the cup quietly after that.