Rangers comfortably stepped over the potential banana skin that was a trip to Arbroath, running out winners by three goals.

Captain Barry Ferguson set them on their way and Craig Moore doubled the lead just after the half-hour mark.

Arbroath were never embarrassed in the game and they fought well throughout.

But Shota Arveladze made the result more emphatic with a well-taken goal in the second half.

Ferguson almost got Rangers off to the ideal start when he crashed a 30-yard shot off the bar and Michael Mols directed the rebound off target.

Arthur Numan toe-poked another effort at goal from the edge of the box but Craig Hinchcliffe was well behind the shot.

Ronald de Boer tracks Ross Currie

Hinchcliffe slipped up in allowing Arveladze to charge down a clearance from the edge of his box but the loose ball was cleared.

Ferguson tested Hinchcliffe again from distance, but the keeper was once more equal to the task.

But the Rangers captain's persistence paid off in the 27th minute when he accepted a short corner on the angle of the box before curling a left-foot shot past Hinchcliffe, who was not helped by Shota Arveladze's clever step-over the ball.

Rangers doubled their lead in 32 minutes when Moore headed powerfully beyond Hinchliffe from 12 yards from Ricksen's corner.

Hinchcliffe did well to deal with another Ferguson effort from the edge of the box on the stroke of half time.

Arbroath won a rare corner at the start of the second half and although it found its way onto the head of John McGlashan, Stefan Klos was able to gather comfortably.

Lorenzo Amoruso keeps tabs on Craig Feroz

Rangers pressed forward again and Arveladze sent Arthur Numan galloping into the box and it needed a good save from Hinchcliffe to deny him.

Mols should have made it three when the ball fell to him with the goal gaping, but he pushed the ball wide.

But Arveladze got on the scoresheet in 58 minutes when he fastened onto a Numan pass, pivoted and curled a shot beyond Hinchliffe who had raced out to try to stop the attack.

Klos was called into action with 15 minutes left but he dealt with the header comfortably enough.

Then Ross Currie drove the ball off the bar and over after Lorenzo Amoruso and Fernando Ricksen had been felled by a clash of heads. Both required stitches and failed to return to the action.

Mols passed up another chance after being put through on goal, and although he recovered to get the ball back into the danger area, Claudio Caniggia hit the ball into the sidenetting.

Ferguson brought another fine save out of Hinchcliffe with a long-range shot and then the keeper denied Numan a goal in the last minute.

Arbroath: Hinchcliffe, Tait, Florence, Cusick (Spink 57), Ritchie, Currie , Brownlie (Swankie 77), Cargill, Henslee (Heenan 65), Feroz, McGlashan.

Subs Not Used: McAulay, Woodcock.

Rangers: Klos, Ricksen, Moore, Amoruso (Malcolm 77), Numan, de Boer, Ferguson, McCann (Caniggia 69), Ross, Mols, Arveladze (McLean 74).

Subs Not Used: Nerlinger, McGregor.

Att: 4,125

Ref: J Rowbotham