Daly hat-trick boosts Rangers
Jon Daly claimed a hat-trick as Rangers defeated East Fife to secure a 10th Scottish League One victory in a row.
Gary Thom inadvertently set the ball rolling on a 4-0 win with an own-goal early in the second half before Daly struck with a treble.
The victory meant events on the park continued to run smoothly against a backdrop of a boardroom power struggle.
Lee Wallace and Arnold Peralta returned to the Rangers side after recovering from injury and illness respectively, while Nicky Clark also started after his late winner last week.
The Glasgow giants had found themselves trailing by two goals after just eight minutes at Brechin and were aiming for a more positive start to this game.
An Ian Black free-kick found Wallace and his mishit shot fell for Bilel Mohsni, but the defender lashed well over.
Daly then teed up a low shot for Clark but the forward was off-target and dragged wide of the post.
Clark had another chance to leave the net bulging when he met Peralta's free-kick but nodded straight into the arms of goalkeeper Greg Paterson.
At the other end, skipper Craig Johnstone saw his 25-yard drive dip just over the crossbar for the Fifers.
Rangers did have the ball in the back of the net after 25 minutes through Black, but the effort was disallowed for a Daly foul on the goalkeeper.
After a reasonably drab first half from the visitors, the goals began to flow after the interval.
The breakthrough came four minutes after the restart when Wallace tried to pick out Daly in front of goal and Thom's attempted clearance saw him deflect the ball into his own net instead.
Daly hit the target two minutes later when he met a Peralta cross with a header that left Paterson with no chance.
The Irishman was celebrating again on 57 minutes. Clark nodded into the path of Daly who finished well with a looping header.
His hat-trick was complete after 66 minutes when Lewis Macleod supplied the cut-back and Daly stroked home.
East Fife could have pulled a goal back but Cammy Bell produced an impressive save to deny Scott McBride a late consolation.
Source: PA
Source: PA