It was always going to be hard to adapt to the absence of Barry Ferguson – captain, playmaker and leading goalscorer – for the first time this season and without his drive and barking instructions the Light Blues seemed to drift like a ship without a rudder.
This was a dis-jointed re-shaped Rangers line-up and throughout a frustrating 90 minutes it certainly showed.
As passes went astray with alarming regularity, the home crowd were not slow to vent their frustration with heavy-hearted groans that echoed all around the stadium.
Despite missing five first-team players, Rangers had been expected to easily see off their Glasgow rivals with a few goals to spare but that certainly wasn’t the case.
Thistle, battling defiantly to protect their SPL status, were in no mood just to lie down and let Rangers run all over them and their lively front line was creating the Light Blues’ static defence line several problems.
The ageing Gerry Britton had a great chance to grab a goal after only eight minutes when Rangers’ malfunctioning offside trap allowed him a clear run on goal but, lacking pace, he was unable to make the most of the opportunity and Fernando Ricksen saved the day with a crunching tackle.
Responsibility had been placed on Mikel Arteta to fill the role vacated by Ferguson and he worked a short corner that Mo Ross curled into the hands of Kenny Arthur before the young Spaniard fired in a free kick that cannoned off the defensive wall.
Rangers looked promising in flurries but were unable to create any real sustained pressure, with Ronald de Boer the victim of some heavy tackles from the Thistle defence.
Peter Lovenkrands had a powerful drive well parried by Arthur before de Boer fed a pass to Mols whose cross from the byline was intercepted by the back-tracking Stephen Craigan.
As the half fizzled out, Lovenkrands released de Boer but his darting run was halted by the linesman’s flag even though he looked at least a yard onside.
It almost got worst for Rangers within a minute of the re-start when Ross was weak with a pass back and only the sharp reactions from Klos denied Alex Burns a shock opening goal.
From the resulting clearance, Mols was unable to steer the ball past the goalkeeper from the counter-attack.
It was Ross’ last involvement in play as he was replaced by Neil McCann as Rangers got increasingly closer to the break-through.
The former Hearts man was instantly in the action, setting up a Stevy Hughes drive that went just wide, before arcing in a free kick from the edge of the box that Arthur palmed beyond the post.
From the resulting corner, McCann plonked the ball flush on the head of the in-rushing Craig Moore but the acting skipper was unable to keep his header down.
By now, Thistle sensed they could steal at least a point and dragged back nine men behind the ball to continually frustrate Rangers.
Their resistance was finally broken after 70 minutes. Hughes made good ground down the right and his cross was headed firmly past Arthur by Mols at the near post.
Four minutes later and Rangers finally put the game beyond doubt. Mols it was again who grabbed the glory, shooting into the far corner after Derek Fleming had failed to cut out de Boer’s pass.
Thistle were dead on their feet by this stage although Klos pulled off another miraculous block to deny David Rowson what would have been a consolation goal.
The contest was closer than Rangers would have liked but at this stage of the season it is the result rather than the performance that matters most.
RANGERS (4-3-3): 1 Klos; 2 Ricksen, 3 Moore, 12 Malcolm, 21 Ross (McCann 50); 27 Hughes, 15 Konterman, 23 Arteta (Caniggia 60); 10 Mols, 14 de Boer, 26 Lovenkrands (Arveladze 76)
Subs not used: McGregor, Eggen
Booked: None
PARTICK THISTLE (4-4-2): 12 Arthur; 17 Lilley, 4, Craigan, 5 Paterson (Whyte 9), 3 Archibald; 7 Mitchell, 16 Buchan, 37 Rowson, 18 Fleming (Waddell 78); 9 Britton (Walker 84), 11 Burns
Subs not used: Gibson, Pinkowski
Booked: Britton (45)
Man of the Match: Bob Malcolm