Walter Smith’s side were looking to bounce back after Wednesday’s disappointing defeat in Tel-Aviv and their performance today was efficient if not spectacular.
The gaffer made two changes to the side that lost to Hapoel with Libor Sionko replacing Chris Burke and Charlie Adam in for Gavin Rae.
John Hughes, meanwhile, stuck by his word by including Alan Gow in his starting eleven despite the left-sided midfielder joining Rangers in the summer.
The Bairns manager former would have been looking for his team to travel to Glasgow and put a halt to a dismal run of five straight defeats.
The new Ibrox playing surface looked lush ahead of the kick-off and the Gers team were able to sample the turf in a training session yesterday as they prepared to return to SPL action.
The atmosphere in the stadium at the start of the match was surprising subdued and the players started in a similar fashion with neither team being able to test the opposing keeper in the opening stages.
The first real opportunity came on eleven minutes and it fell to Barry Ferguson.
Nacho Novo played the ball to his strike partner Boyd but when the prolific hitman failed to control it in the 18-yard box Ferguson, who had sprinted forward from a deep position, tried his luck with a low effort which Schmeichel did well to block.
Apart from a Charlie Adam free-kick from 30-yards which went several metres wide of the target, Fergie’s effort remained the only clear-cut attempt on goal up until the half-hour mark.
As has been so often the case this season Kris Boyd has been Rangers biggest, and at times only, goalscoring threat and Scotland’s top scorer did what he does best on 34 minutes.
Having hardly touched the ball all afternoon he controlled a terrific Alan Hutton cross perfectly with the outside of his right boot before steering it beyond the helpless Dane in Falkirk’s goal.
It was Boyd’s 21st goal of the current campaign and it yet again underlined his value to the team.
The first-half ended with the Gers keeping their slender advantage intact although there was time for Bairns right-back Dean Holden to pick up a yellow card for a terrible challenge on Adam before being joined in the referee’s notebook by Carl Finnigan who battered Alan Hutton into the advertising boards at the front of the Copland Road Stand.
Smith elected to make his first change to his team at half-time by replacing Karl Svensson with Sasa Papac with the Bosnian slotting in beside the ever-dependable Davie Weir.
For a match that was by no means dirty it was somewhat surprising when Falkirk’s Stephen O’Donnell picked up yet another booking for his side – this time for a cynical foul on Adam which thwarted a Gers counter-attack on 52 minutes.
But only second later and Rangers found themselves in a similar position with Adam again breaking swiftly from midfield along with three of his teammates.
The youngster found Fergsuon who had acres of space but his cross come shot was parried by Schmeichel before Novo had a bicycle kick blocked on the line.
The missed opportunities meant that the Gers fans could not relax with the hour mark looming.
And Novo was again unlucky on 62 minutes when he latched on to a superb Barry Ferguson pass but his powerful right-foot shot rippled the side netting.
It was to be a costly miss as Falkirk were to sprint up the pitch and fire home an equaliser only a minute later.
It was Gow who played a neat pass to Carl Finnigan and the striker fired home at McGregor’s near post.
The Bairns, however, were unable to hold on to their lead for long as Rangers regained control on 72 minutes.
Adam played a terrific low cross from a free-kick on the right wing and the ball was missed by several players attacking the ball.
It fell to Papac but the defender’s shot was blocked before Ferguson rattled the ball into the net from a yard.
The goal silenced the visiting support but, to be fair to Falkirk, they responded well and put further pressure on the Gers’ goal although a bit of frustration was evident on 82 minutes when Thomas Scobbie was given a straight red card for a terrible challenge on Burke.
The Light Blues managed to keep the scoreline at 2-1 up until the final whistle, despite Barry Ferguson hobbling up the tunnel with what looked like a groin injury, and the home support will be hoping for a similar outcome when Hapoel visit Ibrox on Wednesday night.