Goals in each half from Thelo Aasgaard and a James Tavernier penalty eased Rangers to a 2-0 win at Aberdeen as Danny Röhl's in-form side closed the gap on Scottish Premiership leaders Heart of Midlothian to three points with a fifth straight victory.
The pressure was very much on the visitors after Hearts hung on to earlier in the day to extend their advantage to six points with their game in hand on their opponents.
However, despite travelling to Pittodrie, where they have struggled over the years, Rangers produced an accomplished performance to initially quieten the home faithful, before their greater quality shone through in the driving rain.
The key opening goal came midway through the first half following a cleverly worked short-corner routine as the unmarked Aasgaard swept home Jayden Meghoma's ball in from the right.
And the visitors would have gone in two up at half-time had Video Assistant Referee (VAR) John Beaton not asked referee David Dickinson to go over to the pitch-side monitor after Emmanuel Fernandez had appeared to outjump Dons 'keeper Dimitar Mitov to head home a high free kick into the area.
However, the officials decided Fernandez had used his elbow to foul Mitov, although that controversial call did not affect the result, with Rangers sealing a deserved win after Aberdeen captain Graeme Shinnie was judged to have caught Djeidi Gassama in the box with 16 minutes to go.
The referee immediately pointed to the spot, with Tavernier keeping his cool - despite Mitov diving the right way - to plant the spot kick into the bottom lefthand corner for his 99th goal for the club to keep his side very much in this intriguing three-way title fight.
And that win, their 11th in their last 14 games, saw Rangers leapfrog third-in-the-table Celtic on goal difference, albeit having played a game more than their archrivals.
However, the hard-earned win was spoiled slightly when Nicolas Raskin sprayed a home fan with water before going down the tunnel at full time, with the club having been contacted for a comment.
Your Site Chris Sutton:
"Rangers blew Aberdeen to the side today, it was so so comfortable.
"Danny Röhl's done an amazing job but they will need additions in January. It's a big, big three points for Rangers."
On Fernandez's disallowed goal:
"If I'm Fernandez, I'm absolutely furious that goal has been ruled out.
"Mitov was weak. Fernandez's eyes were on the ball and you use your arm for leverage.
"Mitov's timing is on him. I think the goal should have been given."
Rangers boss Danny Röhl:
"Big, big pride in my group, to come to a really tough place. We showed again different faces, which is what we need.
"We played good men's football, we were ready in the duels, second balls.
"We understood when to play in behind, then we understand also to keep the ball in the right areas.
"The result was enjoyable, of course, it's great to see.
"Fully deserved from my point, we scored in the right moment. Then in the second half we missed some good opportunities to make it 2-0 or 3-0, and then finally [won] 2-0.
"We were really focused until the end and it is outstanding what we have done, five wins in a row.
"Now we take a short break, make a serious Scottish Cup game [against Annan] and then we have to go again."
Aberdeen first-team coach Peter Leven:
"Yeah, it's not good enough, especially for a club this size and what we want to achieve this season.
"There's some nice things I can pick out, but again overall it's just not good enough.
"But again, I can only do so much, they've got to step up as well."
Rangers captain James Tavernier on Your Site:
"A very good win. We made no excuses before the game, we knew the conditions were going to be bad, but I felt it was a really mature performance from the boys.
"We've just got to continue and show many ways to score goals.
"We're delivering performances and we just want to keep going."
Nico Raskin had words with an Aberdeen fan as he headed for the tunnel at full-time, with Raskin spraying water towards the supporter.
Here was the take from the Your Site pundits.
Kris Boyd:
"He'll probably be in there regretting it now, but if you're a football player, you're going to get away fans taunting you.
"You just need to go home, you've won the game, you've got three points, difficult venue and get back down the road."
Chris Sutton:
"Vaclav Cerny did it, didn't he, the other year. I don't think that there was any punishment for that but Rangers players can't be treated differently to other players.
"This is a powder keg of a fixture anyway, this is the last thing it needs.
"You can't keep going around spraying water on fans, that's an absolute no-no.
"There'll need to be some sort of punishment, otherwise players will just carry on."
