Andrew Dickson reporting from Ibrox

RANGERS gave manager Walter Smith the 60th birthday present he was looking for as they notched their ninth successive SPL victory against Gretna.

The Light Blues weren't at their best against the Borders outfit but two goals in the first 21 minutes from Daniel Cousin and Steven Naismith meant they were always in control.

Despite Kenny Deuchar's late double for the away side, Chris Burke and Kris Boyd's second-half strikes made sure the points stayed at Ibrox.

As a result, Gers remain four points clear of Celtic at the top of the league and have kept their good run going.

With so many games coming up in the weeks ahead, Smith took the opportunity to rotate his squad and made five changes to the team that started against Panathinaikos.

Brahim Hemdani and Sasa Papac missed out with injuries while Boyd and Nacho Novo dropped to the bench. Charlie Adam was rested.

Steven Whittaker, Burke, Naismith and Jean-Claude Darcheville all came in and Cousin made his first start for five weeks.

The hosts might have had a penalty as early as the second minute when Burke was clipped in the box but his claims were waved away by referee Calum Murray.

As expected, Rangers dictated play and after Carlos Cuellar headed a Burke corner just wide, they took the lead on 12 minutes.

Cousin broke the offside trap to gather Barry Ferguson's pass and held off his man well before rounding goalkeeper Greg Fleming to score a good goal from a tight angle.

Burke almost doubled the lead soon after when Darcheville sent in a low, teasing cross from the right but he just failed to connect.

It was soon 2-0, however, with Naismith sending a cute left-footed volley into the net from Ferguson's swirling corner to net his fifth goal in Gers colours.

With three quarters of the game still to go and Gretna yet to threaten, it seemed the Light Blues already had three points in the bag.

But away midfielder Paul Murray reminded them there was still work to do when he sent a glancing header off the foot of Allan McGregor's right-hand post.

Rangers pushed for a third - with Darcheville shooting just over from 18 yards after Naismith set him up - but it took time to get it.

Cousin caught sight of goal moments after the break but his shot on the turn was well blocked and the ball was cleared to safety.

Steven Davis also played a neat one-two with the Gabon international then set up Burke but he drove over.

The winger made amends on the hour mark though when Darcheville burst in from the left and allowed him to shoot high into the net from eight yards.

That was the cue for a double substitution, with Darcheville and Cousin coming off for Boyd and midweek hero Novo.

The former's first contribution was to head goalwards and only a clearance off the line stopped him from bagging his 17th club counter of the season.

Much to the surprise of many, the next goal came Gretna's way when Deuchar rose highest to head in from substitute Mikael Buscher's cross.

But Boyd wasn't to be denied and he latched on to a tremendous defence-splitting pass by Steven Davis to round Fleming and tap in.

Deuchar did his best to take some gloss off the win when he nodded in his second from close range two minutes from the end but it wasn't enough to spoil Smith's big day.

Rangers: McGregor, Broadfoot, Weir, Cuellar, Whittaker, Burke, Davis, Ferguson, Naismith, Cousin (Boyd 60), Darcheville (Novo 60).

Subs not used: Alexander, Dailly, Faye, Furman, Fleck.

Gretna: Fleming, Barr, Naughton, Hall, Meynell, Murray (Wilkinson 69), Skelton, Deverdics (Baldacchino 77), McGill, Kissock (Buscher 69), Deuchar.

Subs not used: Krysiak, Makinwa, Eklund, Griffiths.