Lindsay Herron reports from Tulloch Caledonian Stadium

RANGERS blew Caley away in blustery conditions in the Highland capital to get just the start to the new season they wanted.

Inspired by captain Barry Ferguson, Rangers were too strong for Inverness and set themselves up nicely for Tuesday's Euro clash in Montenegro.

It was Ferguson who set them on their way and then completed the job with a super lob with Nacho Novo grabbing the second goal.

The only down side for Walter Smith was that Kris Boyd limped out of the game with a foot injury.

There is nothing quite like a well-worked early goal in the first game to get the season off to a flyer and the skipper provided it after just 15 minutes.

Ferguson, given a more advanced role in Walter Smith's system, was perfectly found by Lee McCulloch's flick on following Allan McGregor's clearance.

Moving the ball onto his left side, Ferguson drove a terrific shot low and in off the right hand post from the edge of the box to the delight of the travelling fans at the other end.

Smith had hoped pre-match that Ferguson would get forward with Brahim Hemdani and Kevin Thomson sitting and the early goal exemplified the plan.

Smith had also given a debut to DaMarcus Beasley and the American star really should have eased Rangers nerves much earlier.

He was played through by Ferguson in just three minutes and opted to go round keeper Michael Fraser before shooting from a tight angle and that allowed Ross Tokely to get back to clear.

Tokely proved to be a difficult customer for Beasley all day, clattering into the US international on a regular basis. Welcome to Scottish football, DaMarcus.

The former PSV winger had another excellent opportunity four minutes before half-time when he was set up again by Ferguson.

He was not quite as wide this time and could even have squared for Kris Boyd but ended up shooting straight at Fraser.

Boyd was desperately unfortunate 10 minutes earlier when he latched onto Ferguson's pass and hammered a right foot shot which was pushed onto the bar by the Caley keeper.

Itreally was not Boyd's day. He took a knock on his left foot earlier in the first half and when he was caught again four minutes into the second half he had to go off and was replaced by Nacho Novo.

The little Spaniard had looked lively in the first leg with Zeta and might have felt he had done enough to earn a starting slot.

And he underlined his value in 63 minutes when he struck the second goal for Rangers.

Again it was a long clearance from McGregor which caused Caley problems

McCulloch, now playing as the main striker collected it and played in Novo who was unmarked on the right side of the box and thumped a right foot shot high past Fraser.

The victory was pretty secure at that point but Ferguson finished the game in style with an opportunistic strike in the final minute.

He took advantage of a slack header by Tokely and cleverly lobbed Fraser for a wonderful second goal. Happy new season!