Ross County were defeated 2-1 by Rangers at Victoria Park in a result which leaves them six points adrift at the foot of the Premiership.
Goals in each half from Daniel Candeias and Jason Cummings put the Gers in firm command, with David Ngog pulling one back from the penalty spot in the dying minutes.
The loss extends County’s run without a victory to 12 matches in all competitions, with 14 games remaining.
County made three changes from the side that went down 2-0 at Motherwell on Wednesday, with Harry Souttar, Davis Keillor-Dunn and Craig Curran replacing Inih Effiong, Billy Mckay and the injured Andrew Davies.
Rangers had an early chance when Aaron McCarey’s poor kick-out landed with Daniel Candeias, however his strike from the edge of the box was straight at the Irish goalkeeper.
County were forced to make an early change when Christopher Routis landed awkwardly with a shoulder injury, with Tim Chow coming on in his place.
Rangers began to dominate, with Jason Holt seeing a shot deflected past by Marcus Fraser, before David Bates nodded wide from the resulting corner.
They came even closer on 21 minutes when Jamie Murphy saw shots blocked by both McCarey and Kenny van der Weg.
The breakthrough came just a minute later however, when Candeias’ low 25-yard strike squirmed through the grasp of Staggies goalkeeper McCarey and nestled in the bottom corner.
Rangers had further chances to add to their lead before half-time, with Alfredo Morelos pulling a shot wide after van der Weg had given the ball away, before McCarey did well to make saves from Sean Goss’ shot and Murphy’s header.
County looked brighter at the second half, with Wes Foderingham claiming a weak low effort from Michael Gardyne, before efforts from Jim O’Brien and van der Weg were blocked.
At the other end, another McCarey save kept County in the game when he palmed Josh Windass’ shot wide.
The Staggies made a claim for a penalty on 71 minutes when Jason Naismith’s cross picked out Ross Draper, whose header looked to come off the hand of David Bates however referee Steven McLean waved away the appeal.
The Gers wrapped up the points with seven minutes left, when substitute Cummings took aim with a low strike that nestled in McCarey’s bottom right-hand corner.
County did get a spot kick on 90 minutes when Ngog’s cut back came off the hand of Russell Martin, with the Frenchman tucking home from 12 yards, however it was too little, too late.