Amoruso in excellent nick

Dunfermline Athletic 1 Rangers 3

Now the mystery of Dunfermline Athletic's Scottish Cup-winning side of 1968 has been solved, perhaps Scotland's grittiest detective can turn his attention to another crime. The scriptwriter on Taggart was "shopped" in midweek, by the Radio Times, for stealing the identities of East End Park's finest team and handing them to characters in the television drama. Yesterday's theft involved the boys in blue, but this time they were the culprits.

That Rangers walked away with all three points, to keep their lead at the top of the Scottish Premier League, was simple daylight robbery. Given an uncomfortable ride by Jimmy Calderwood's feisty side, it took Lorenzo Amoruso to get them out of jail with a blistering 71st-minute shot.

Claudio Caniggia's injury-time goal put an unrealistic gloss on the scoreline. Calderwood sighed later: "You have to get the breaks if you are going to beat Rangers, and we never." Stefan Klos again underlined his claim to be the best in the SPL with a sublime save after eight minutes, when he pawed away Craig Brewster's stabbed effort. But with his counterpart, Derek Stillie, having done little it was handling of a different kind the home team claimed allowed Rangers to make the breakthrough in the 37th minute.

Neil McCann took a short corner with Mikel Arteta before curling a hopeful ball to the back post, but when it sailed into the net the evidence appeared to point to some underhand work from Arveladze on the goalkeeper. "Derek says he was pushed," insisted Calderwood.

Dunfermline took out their anger in a positive fashion. Three minutes into the second half they restored parity. Steve Crawford, playing in an unfamiliar midfield role, began the move that saw the ball pushed out to Noel Hunt, who cut into the box and though his shot was blocked, Brewster pounced with a volley Klos had no chance of stopping. Stillie protected that scoreline by pushing Amoruso's header over the bar, but an innocuous foul by Steven Hampshire on McCann allowed the winger to roll a free- kick which Amoruso thrashed into the roof of the net from an acute angle.

Dunfermline's pursuit of a Uefa Cup place has instilled a determination when facing lost causes, and Hampshire came close to equalising twice within a minute. Crawford seemed certain to add to his 16 goals in the 88th minute when Lee Bullen's knockdown left him in front of goal, but the Scotland striker hooked the ball over, and Caniggia then rubbed salt into the wound when he finished off McCann's break with a close-range header.

"It was tough and we had to roll up our sleeves," acknowledged Alex McLeish, "but Amoruso's goal was both important and inspirational."

Dunfermline Athletic 1
Brewster 49

Rangers 3
McCann 38, Amoruso 71, Caniggia 90

Half-time 0-1 Attendance: 8,754