MOTHERWELL, Jan 2 (SW) - Thanks to a penalty from Kris Boyd, Rangers moved past Aberdeen into second place in the Scottish Premier League with a 1-0 victory away to Motherwell.

Prior to the match, Rangers manager Paul Le Guen dropped captain Barry Ferguson from the side and named Gavin Rae the new skipper, and the side started out well.

Rae nearly had a chance to put Rangers in front after the opening kickoff, but the home side quickly came back and nearly grabbed the lead themselves through Richie Foran.

Dado Prso missed a chance to put the visitors in front on 26 minutes when he headed wide and almost set up Nacho Novo for the opener early in the second half.

The second half featured some fantastic end to end action and Motherwell had two good chances to go in front through Scott McDonald, but Rangers would finally break through in the 70th minute.

Prso was taken down in the area by Motherwell goalkeeper Graeme Smith and Boyd stepped up to slot home the penalty.

Three minutes later, Well midfielder Marc Fitzpatrick was dismissed for kicking at the head of Rangers goalkeeper Allan McGregor, and Prso quickly followed him out the door in the tussle after.