McLeish pleased to narrow the gap

Dundee United 1-4 Rangers

Rangers manager Alex McLeish was delighted that his side had overcome Dundee United and a bumpy pitch to narrow the gap on second-top Hearts.

"It was a difficult surface and I was worried about being able to keep the ball on the floor and play football," he said after the 4-1 victory.

"But we showed some tremendous drive and energy from back to front.

"We had a couple of early misses I thought we might rue, but Dado Prso's opener settled us down."

McLeish took off Barry Ferguson, who could face an operation that will rule him out of the rest of the season, after 66 minutes with Rangers 3-0 ahead.

Hopefully we can turn the heat on Hearts Rangers striker Kris Boyd

"We want to try to spare him now," said the Rangers manager.

"Hopefully, by doing that, we can get him through to the end of the season."

McLeish praised hat-trick striker Kris Boyd.

"He could have had two match balls he had so many chances," he said.

"His outfield play still needs a bit of improving, but he did well out there and played his part well."

Boyd was just pleased to have the chance to continue scoring goals after his January move from Kilmarnock.

"I missed a few, but I always seem to come back and I'm just happy to be playing," he said.

Hearts have a game in hand over Rangers, but that could come to nothing on Wednesday in Glasgow when Celtic could clinch the title.

That could set up a showdown between Hearts and Rangers in their final league fixture between the two sides.

"We've got second place in our sights now and hopefully we can turn the heat on Hearts," said Boyd.