Jon Daly's blistering goal-scoring form continued as he bagged a double to send Rangers into the fourth round of the William Hill Scottish Cup with a 3-0 win over Airdrie.
The Irishman netted twice in the space of four second-half minutes to put the Light Blues in the driving seat at Ibrox.
David Templeton then came off the bench to secure the win with an 80th-minute strike to ensure there was no late comeback from the Diamonds.
For Daly, the brace saw him take his tally to seven goals in the last four games.
This win may have been less convincing than the 6-0 thrashing Rangers claimed away from home the last time the sides met in Scottish League One business in August, but the victory provided their second cup success in less than a week after booking their place in the Ramsdens Cup final by dumping Stenhousemuir on Tuesday.
Ally McCoist's men will learn their opponents for the fourth round of the Scottish Cup when the draw takes place on Tuesday.
Rangers made one enforced change from the midweek game at Ochilview.
Kyle Hutton made his first start of the season, after recovering from injury, and replaced the suspended Ian Black.
Ahead of kick-off, Abba classic 'Fernando' was played in tribute to former player Fernando Ricksen, who this week revealed he had been diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease.
There was also a minute of applause by fans after two minutes - reflecting his squad number - in support of the Dutchman.
On the park, Hutton looked dangerous early on, seeing an effort deflected wide, before forcing a save from Tony Bullock at the near post with a shot from a tight angle.
There was slight concern for the home side at the other end thanks to Lee McCulloch's unconvincing attempt at clearing Jamie Bain's cross but goalkeeper Cammy Bell claimed the ball to snuff out any danger.
Rangers dominated much of the possession but struggled to find a breakthrough.
Nicky Clark saw his header whistle over the crossbar, before Bilel Mohsni's tame effort from the edge of the box was smothered by the goalkeeper.
McCulloch then met Arnold Peralta's free-kick from the right with a firm header that he bulleted just past the upright.
After a goalless first half, Rangers opened the scoring just three minutes after the restart.
Attempts by the Airdrie defence to clear a Peralta ball into the box fell as far as Daly who unleashed into the far bottom corner.
The Irishman doubled the scoreline - and his tally on the night - four minutes later.
This time, he threw himself in front of Richard Foster's cross and left Bullock with no chance with the header.
There was controversy after 64 minutes when Darren McCormack smothered the ball with his body in the area and referee John Beaton awarded an indirect free-kick despite claims for a penalty.
McCulloch's shot from next to the penalty spot then failed to make it past the wall of Airdrie players strung across the goal.
Seconds later, Daly was denied his hat-trick when his shot was hooked off the line, as Rangers pressed for more goals.
The home side made two changes in quick succession, with Lewis Macleod replaced by Templeton, before Clark made way for Andy Little.
And Templeton put the tie beyond Airdrie with 10 minutes to go when he met Nicky Law's cut-back 15 yards out and stroked home goal number three for Rangers.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article