Rangers played through a strangely subdued atmosphere of discontent to beat bottom Premiership side St Johnstone 3-1 at Ibrox.
The Light Blues' new chief executive Patrick Stewart gave the board's backing to boss Philippe Clement on Saturday after pressure on the Belgian increased following Thursday night's 1-1 draw at Dundee, which further dented their title hopes.
The Rangers Supporters' Association called for Clement's sacking, while the Union Bears, an ultras-style Rangers fan group, initiated a walkout in the 55th minute, paradoxically booed loudly by many of the remaining Gers supporters, who watched three goals in nine minutes in in the first half from Hamza Igamane, Vaclav Cerny and Mohamed Diomand.
Saints defender Jack Sanders reduced the deficit in the 54th minute as the home side's performance faded in a long silence from the stands.
The Govan side moved to 15 points behind leaders Celtic, but the title will almost certainly remain at Parkhead.
How Rangers beat St Johnstone
Hamza Igamane and Mohamed Diomande were on target for Rangers
Clement's woes haven't been helped by injuries to several key players, yet again there has been a tentative look at his side.
Midfielder and stand-in captain Nicolas Raskin returned from suspension, with Brazilian forward Danilo also reinstated and 20-year-old defender Clinton Nsiala starting his first game at Ibrox.
St Johnstone manager Simo Valakari was looking for a first win in nine games and made five changes.
Andy Fisher, the 26-year-old goalkeeper signed on loan from Swansea City, made his debut alongside defender Aaron Essel, midfielders Fran Franczak and Max Kucheriavyi, and striker Mackenzie Kirk who returned.
A hum of conversation came from the Gers faithful amid a lull from the usually boisterous Union Bears, who held up banners against the boards and chanted 'sack the board', although the rest of the stadium didn't largely join in.
Moments later, in the 16th minute, Diomande took a pass from Cerny and fed the ball back to Igamane to slot the ball into the Saints net from 12 yards out for his 12th goal of the season.
The stadium quickly fell into almost complete silence but roared back to life when Cerny pounced on Danilo's through ball and slotted the ball past Fisher for his 12th since signing on loan from Wolfsburg.
When Sanders inexplicably tossed Cerny into the air, Diomande made a perfect pass to go past Fisher and eventually some chants fell from the stands, if only for a moment.
Igamane celebrates after giving Rangers a first-half lead against St Johnstone
Cerny should have scored early in the second half, but Fisher easily saved a weak shot before the visitors pulled one back.
Sanders headed into Kucheriavo's corner just before the Union Bears departed – the timing was symbolic of the club's 55th and final title win in 2021 – to boos from his fellow fans.
Fisher made a fine save from Gers defender Oscar Cortes but the Perth men carried just as much threat in their sporadic attacks, substitute Graham Carey testing Gers keeper Liam Kelly with a shot at his near post.
The final whistle brought applause. but these are uncertain times at Ibrox.
What the managers said…
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Rangers manager Philippe Clement reacts to some fans leaving Ibrox in the 55th minute in a pre-planned protest aimed at the scoreboard
Rangers boss Philippe Clement: “I want everyone to be united. Simple. You can see it as a positive that there are still a lot of people behind it all.
“But I want everyone to be united. So that's what I wanted last year when I came in, and at that moment that wasn't the case.
But it has to do with performance, and that's normal. We want consistency, I want consistency and the fans want consistency to get better results. We have consistency in home games.
“Now we have 31 points out of 33, I think. We have consistency in our European season but we haven't had consistency away from home. So those are things to work on with all the teams.”
St Johnstone boss Simo Valakari on taking a break from a “disastrous” league position to face Motherwell in the Scottish Cup next week: “I want to get going very quickly from here. You can call me crazy, but I know this club and this team, and I feel it's starting to turn around.
“There is no better time than the cup this week.
“Seven days we should not think about a disastrous position in the league. Now it's the cup and it doesn't matter how bad we played in the league or what happened.
“It's the Scottish Cup and we've got exactly the same chance of winning it as Rangers or anyone else.”