Rangers found a dramatic stoppage-time winner to finally secure their first Scottish Premiership win of the season at the sixth attempt, with substitute Max Aarons’ late strike enough to down Livingston.

Russell Martin’s struggling side were perilously close to the longest winless streak in their history before Aarons found the net in the 94th minute, lashing home a loose ball to send Rangers fans tumbling on to the pitch in celebration.

James Tavernier had put the Ibrox side ahead in the first half with a hooked volley from close range, and it was a deserved lead given their dominance at that stage.

Rangers even had the chance to double that advantage when Nico Raskin had his shirt pulled at the corner, and a penalty was awarded after a VAR check. Tavernier stepped up, but his effort was saved by the legs of Jerome Prior.

They very nearly rued that mistake. Unable to pull away from their hosts – they had a second by Derek Cornelius ruled out before the break – Martin’s side gradually lost the ascendancy as Livingston came back into it.

And they conceded an ugly equaliser in the 67th minute when Mo Sylla headed in unchallenged from an Adam Montgomery cross.

Rangers, in desperation, poured forward at the end looking for a winner, and found it through maligned summer signing Aarons, who seized upon a loose ball from a corner to ram his first goal for the club past Prior.

Livingston manager David Martindale: “I genuinely came to this thinking we could take something from the game because I know what I’ve got in the changing room.

“It is a learning curve as a group. This is a new team that’s just come up from the Championship, I’ve got two 20-year-old midfielders and I don’t think there will be any other team that have that profile of players.

“I thought it was one of our better performances we’ve had against Rangers in the last seven years and I think we’re hard done by not to come away with something.”

Match report: Andrew Petrie

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