Kris Boyd’s goal 10 minutes after half-time proved to be enough for the Ayrshiremen as they made it back-to-back victories over the Light Blues.
Graeme Murty made two changes to his side which lost to Celtic last week, with Jason Cummings replacing Alfredo Morelos, while Russell Martin, who declared himself fit on Thursday, replaced the injured David Bates.
The game was a very even affair in the first half, and while chances were limited, they were pretty evenly spread between both teams.
Sean Goss sent a decent free-kick effort from 25-yards narrowly wide of Jamie MacDonald’s post, while some fantastic work from Greg Docherty saw him weave his way into the box while holding off Stephen O’Donnell.
Martin should then have handed Murty’s men the lead as he headed a stunning Goss delivery off-target, while MacDonald was then called into action for the first time to deny Cummings.
As the interval approached, Killie had two more-than decent chances. Former Ger Kirk Broadfoot sent a teasing delivery across goal which was just waiting to be tapped home, but Aaron Tshibola timed his run wrong and missed the ball. Then, another ex-Ibrox favourite in Kris Boyd was involved for the first time in the game, heading straight at Foderingham from and Eammon Brophy cross.
The second half began with another massive chance for the visitors. Jordan Jones escaped down the right wing and managed to find Brophy unmarked around 15 yards from goal in the area.
The former Hamilton man appeared to have more time than he realised, and sent a first time effort on the volley wide of Foderingham’s left-hand post.
Rangers failed to heed their warning, and 10 minutes after the restart, Kilmarnock took the lead.
From an initial Jones free-kick, the Light Blues failed to clear their lines, with the ball eventually reaching Youssouf Mulumbu on the edge of the area. His shot was well saved by Foderingham, but typically, and unfortunately for Gers, that man Boyd was waiting in the perfect spot to turn the ball home.
Murty, who had already replaced Goss at the interval with Jason Holt, responded swiftly to bring on Morelos for Josh Windass in order to try and bring his side back into the match.
And Morelos was very quickly very close to having the desired impact, with a last-ditch Broadfoot tackle all that denied him from bringing Rangers level after he latched onto a Candeias knock-down.
If ever there was to be a hint of this not being Rangers’ afternoon, it came in the 77th minute. A wonderful free-kick delivery from James Tavernier picked out Russell Martin on the six-yard line, and, unmarked, his header firstly came off the underside of the bar and then the inside of the post before being somehow smuggled away to safety by Steve Clarke’s side.
Killie could have doubled their lead in injury time, with Jones sending a wicked shot just wide of Foderingham’s left upright.
RANGERS: Foderingham; Tavernier, Martin, Alves, John; Goss (Holt, 45), Docherty; Candeias (Miller, 76), Windass, Murphy, Cummings (Morelos, 61)
SUBS NOT USED: Alnwick, Cardoso, Herrera, Halliday.
KILMARNOCK: MacDonald, O’Donnell, Broadfoot, Dicker, K Boyd (McKenzie, 61), Jones, Taylor, Findlay, Mulumbu (Erwin, 83), Brophy, Tshibola (Power, 61)
SUBS NOT USED: Fasan, Kiltie, S Boyd, Simpson.
ATTENDANCE: 49, 396