Boyd still speaks fondly of his time at Rugby Park, the place where he gained his grounding in football as an Ayrshire lad learning his trade, but football has little place for sentiment.
A clinically-taken hat-trick, comprising of two penalties and a firm header, were to be the undoing of Kilmarnock on this occasion and takes Boyd’s record against his former club to eight goals in just five games.
Credit too goes to Allan McGregor who, with the score at 2-0 to the visitors, saved brilliantly from Peter Leven’s penalty.
Rangers would later concede their first league goal of 2007 through Steven Naimsith but by then the three points were already in the bag.
As expected, Kevin Thomson was handed his competitive Rangers debut as part of a revamped 4-2-3-1 line-up that had Boyd at its apex as the lone striker.
Nacho Novo dropped to the bench putting the onus on Barry Ferguson to hare forward from midfield to support Boyd whenever possible.
Victories for both Aberdeen and Hearts the previous day had intensified the race for second place and Walter Smith’s could scarcely afford to slip up against a Kilmarnock side with one eye on their CIS Cup Final engagement with Hibernian next month.
Within eight minutes Rangers were in front although there seemed to be a touch of good fortune about it.
Ferguson’s through ball to Boyd looked to have been won cleanly by Simon Ford and outside the box only for referee Dougie McDonald to deem the tackle unjust and award the visitors a penalty.
After the protests had abated, Boyd calmly stroked the spot kick low past Alan Combe for his 18th goal of the season.
It was a great start for the Light Blues and they thought they had extended their lead just five minutes later only for a late linesman’s flag to render Ferguson’s header void.
There was another blow for Rangers after 25 minutes when Ugo Ehiogu limped off injured and was replaced by Karl Svensson but despair for the visitors would be short-lived as they doubled their lead.
Chris Burke jinked inside before playing a pass wide to the unmarked Alan Hutton. He only had one target to aim for in the penalty box but picked Boyd out with a deep delivery for the striker to plant a header beyond Combe for Gers’ second goal.
Kilmarnock had rarely threatened McGregor’s goal throughout the first half but could have reduced the deficit just before the break, only for Naismith’s volley to sneak narrowly past the post.
Thomson failed to re-appear for the second half after appearing to take a knock during the first period and was replaced by Novo with Rangers switching to a more traditional 4-4-2.
The Spaniard was involved right away only for Combe to block his shot with Burke thumping the rebound off James Fowler when it looked easier to score.
With Fowler lying prone on the goal line, Rangers attacked again with Ferguson this time slipping his shot wide of target.
It would take two penalties – one missed, the other scored – within three minutes to ultimately decide the outcome of this clash.
Kilmarnock it was who got the first decision, Hutton unnecessarily shoving Naismith to the turf as Grant Murray’s cross drifted tamely out of play.
Ex-Rangers youth player Leven stepped up to take the kick but his former Murray Park team-mate McGregor sprung expertly low to his right to divert the shot for a corner.
Leven hung his head in despair knowing he had passed up a massive chance to haul his side back into contention and his misery was compounded soon after when Boyd completed his hat-trick.
Again it came from the spot after Novo had been nudged to the ground by Fowler and again Combe had no chance of keeping it out.
That looked like game over for Kilmarnock but they grabbed a lifeline after 72 minutes when Naismith bundled Paul di Giacomo’s header past McGregor, the first goal conceded in the Walter Smith era.
It mattered little in the end, however, as Rangers saw out the remaining minutes to claim a priceless victory.
RANGERS: McGregor; Hutton, Ehiogu (Svensson 25), Weir, Murray; Thomson (Novo 46), Hemdani; Burke, Ferguson, Adam; Boyd
Subs not used: Robinson, Papac, Sionko, Lennon, Furman
Booked: Hutton (58), Murray (75)
KILMARNOCK: Combe, Fowler, Greer, Ford (Johnston 63), Naismith, Wales, Wright (Locke 46), Murray, Dodds, Leven, Quinn (di Giacomo 68)
Subs not used: Smith, Hamill, Campbell, Flannigan
Booked: Combe (49), Fowler (59), Locke (75)
Ref: Dougie McDonald
Att: 11,894
Key Player
Kris Boyd
Deadly once more against his former team