Scott Arfield, Joe Aribo and Fashion Sakala all got on the scoresheet as Rangers played out a comfortable 3-1 victory against Livingston at the Tony Macaroni Arena.
Bruce Anderson was able to get one back for the home side but it ultimately proved to be nothing more than a consolation. And it ensured that new Rangers boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst got off to a great start in his first experience of Scottish domestic football in 20 years.
The Light Blues only had to wait a few minutes for the opening goal as Arfield fired them into the lead with a brilliant finish.
After picking up the ball out on the right-hand side of midfield, James Tavernier played a great ball forward into the feet of the Canadian international.
Arfield found himself clean through on goal and then cheekily chipped Livingston keeper Max Stryjek to hand his side the lead.
Rangers began to control much of the possession again and didn’t appear to be too troubled by the home side. And they made their afternoon even easier just eight minutes after scoring their first goal as Aribo doubled their lead with a sublime finish.
With Ryan Kent on the left-hand side of the box, he passed the ball into the feet of Alfredo Morelos. The Colombian then laid it off to the Nigerian international, who with his first touch, promptly fired a curling shot into the net off the underside of the crossbar.
However, Livingston didn’t give up as they chased down every ball in a bid to try and get one back. And they were rewarded just before the half-hour mark when Anderson was able to reduce the deficit to one.
Nicky Devlin, from his half, played a long ball forward that was brought down brilliantly by Alan Forrest just outside the box.
However, as the half wore on, Van Bronckhorst decided to make some changes and sent Sakala on for some action.
The Zambian international immediately looked threatening and soon paid his manager back for showing faith in him.
With less than 15 minutes left in the match, Rangers won a corner. Tavernier subsequently fired the ball into the middle of the box where Sakala was able to beat both his marker and Stryjek to head it home.
It was a good start for Van Bronckhorst and the type of performance that he and his new backroom staff will be keen to see again in the coming fixtures.
