A WEEK of progress off the park for Rangers was complemented by a smidgeon of advancement on it as they battled their way to a win over Dumbarton that cut Hearts' lead at the top of the SPFL Championship to 13 points.

The 3-1 scoreline may have flattered them, but stand-in manager Kenny McDowall praised his players for their recovery from a poor start in which they conceded the opening goal and were generally outplayed.

Dumbarton also put in a rousing finish which looked like earning them a deserved point until a goal deep into injury time from Dean Shiels sealed a victory for Rangers that was much needed after their 4-0 trouncing from Hibernian the previous weekend.

"It would have been easy for the team to lie down after losing the opening goal, especially after what happened in our last game," McDowall said. "But they showed great character to bounce back and go on and win the game.

"I told them in the changing room afterwards: 'That will do for me'. It's all about one game at a time for us. We can't control what happens elsewhere."

Following last week's share movements, there was a renewed feeling of optimism around Ibrox for the start of the club's first match of the year, for which the Rangers fans turned up in more encouraging numbers.

They were left stunned, however, in the 15th minute when Dumbarton took the lead. Chris Turner's corner to the back post found Colin Nish on his own and his header was poked in at the near post by Andy Graham.

The visitors should have doubled their lead three minutes later when Garry Fleming's cross found Nish but he headed straight at Steve Simonsen.

A chorus of boos then stirred the home team into action. Kyle Hutton had started in a holding role in midfield, allowing full- backs Richard Foster and Lee Wallace to get forward on the flanks. It was down the left, though, that they found most joy.

After 22 minutes Wallace passed to Steven Smith and his superb cross was flicked by the sprawling Dumbarton defender Lee Mair on to the chest of Rangers striker Jon Daly, with the rebound flying into the bottom corner of the net.

The left-flank duo were involved again when Rangers took the lead three minutes from the break.

Smith's pass found Wallace on the edge of the penalty box and the left-back's low shot skidded into the net off the far post.

After the break Kenny Miller twice had chances to stretch Rangers' advantage, but sent first a shot then a header wide from good positions. Those misses and some sloppy Rangers play encouraged the visitors to pile forward in ever-increasing numbers in the closing stages, putting the home goal under siege.

Dumbarton's best chance of an equaliser came in the 90th minute when Chris Kane got on the end of a headed knock-on from Nish only to send his volley soaring over the bar.

Rangers finally broke away in the third minute of injury time when Nicky Clark ran the length of the field and passed to fellow sub Shiels, who knocked the ball into corner of the net, much to the relief of the panicking home fans.

Dumbarton manager Ian Murray praised his part-time players for their gutsy display, saying: "They were excellent. We were the better team in the first half and Nish had a great chance to make it 2-0 to us.

"Then right at the end Kane missed one that would have given us a point. On another day we could have won this match."

If there are happier times ahead for Rangers, though, they were not discernible from the stony-faced demeanour of McDowall when questioned on what the January transfer window may hold for his squad following the departure of talented midfielder Lewis Macleod to Brentford.

Asked if he had been given any assurances that no more players would be leaving, the caretaker manager replied: "No."

He added: "I don't want to lose any more players, but with the state the club is in it's not my decision to make."