Scottish Football: Rangers back on top after Boli's first goal

BASILE BOLI, the French defender who at one time seemed to have little future at Ibrox, scored his first goal for Rangers to help them to victory over Falkirk on Saturday and take them to the top of the Premier Division, writes David McKinney. Brian Laudrup scored the second for Rangers with a swirling free-kick from 18 yards.

A dramatic afternoon at Brockville saw Falkirk reduced to nine men and the game held up for five minutes in the first half as fans spilled out of an overpopulated section of the terracing.

That problem was swiftly dealt with by the police and stewards but Jim Jefferies, the Falkirk manager, will have a harder time repairing the damage to his squad for Wednesday's Coca-Cola Cup quarter-final match against Aberdeen.

David Weir and Steve Fulton were both shown red cards while the defender, Neil Oliver, spent Saturday night in hospital with a fractured jaw following a collision with Ian Ferguson.

Celtic had to content themselves with a single point in a 1-1 draw with Kilmarnock in the first meeting of the clubs since Tommy Burns and Billy Stark left the Ayrshire club to join Celtic - a decision the Kilmarnock fans bitterly resent according to their banners at Hampden Park which proclaimed 'Judas Burns'.

Bobby Williamson took advantage of a defensive error to give Kilmarnock the lead. It took a back-heel from Pat McGinlay four minutes from time to rescue Celtic's pride.

Hearts moved off the bottom with a 2-1 win over Dundee United, their first league victory of the season. But with the Edinburgh club continuing to experience financial hardship, the pressure is growing to sell the defender Alan McLaren. Both Rangers and Celtic are interested in the Scottish international with Celtic already having a pounds 1m offer rejected.