GLASGOW, Aug 25: Rangers beat 10-man Aberdeen 2-0 in the Scottish premier league Sunday to close the gap on league leaders Celtic to two points.

Goals from Ronald de Boer and Barry Ferguson helped Rangers move up to second place behind Glasgow rivals Celtic, who maintained their 100 percent record by beating Partick Thistle 1-0 on Saturday thanks to a Henrik Larsson goal.

Kilmarnock are up to fourth a point behind third-placed Hearts after Kris Boyd’s goal gave them a 1-0 away win at Livingston. Hearts beat Dunfermline 2-0 at home on Saturday.

A crowd of more than 49,000 at Ibrox watched Rangers dominate their match with Aberdeen, who had Scotland player Kevin McNaughton sent off for handling on the goal line 12 minutes from the end.

The home side could have won a penalty minutes later when Danish winger Peter Lovenkrands tumbled in the area under pressure from Eric Deloumeaux but the Rangers player was booked for diving.

Fernando Ricksen missed a glaring chance after being set up by Australian defender Kevin Muscat before De Boer made the breakthrough just before the half hour.

Rangers wrapped up the points in the 78th minute when McNaughton was harshly sent off for handling the ball on the line and Ferguson stepped up to coolly score from the penalty spot.

In Sunday’s other game, Dundee United and Motherwell fought out a 1-1 draw at Tannadice.—Reuters