On a night where plenty of his team-mates were panicking, Lawrence Shankland was a figure of calm for Rangers in Falkirk. His two goals were decisive for Derek Mc Innes' side, earning a second Scottish Premiership win of the season days after the captain's penalty delivered the first at Pittodrie. In an error-strewn game that lacked quality, Shankland was the difference maker. His first whistled into the roof of the net off his weaker left foot, while his second - again on his left - was passed into the bottom corner with the game on a knife edge.

Falkirk boss John Mc Glynn summed up the Scotland striker's impact after Rangers emerged with a 2-1 win. "If Lawrence Shankland is in a navy blue jersey, we win the game tonight," Mc Glynn told BBC Scotland. After being linked with a move to his boyhood club for years, Shankland finally signed for Rangers in May after netting 60 goals in his past three seasons at Hearts.

"I'm very pleased for Lawrence," said Rangers boss Mc Innes, who followed Shankland to Ibrox from Hearts in the summer. "I thought his second goal was particularly good, considering he missed the chance that he would be kicking himself with. But, like all good strikers, the experience of Lawrence, the calmness of Lawrence, the quality comes up with a big moment." Before successive wins in the past four days, Rangers had endured a slow start under Mc Innes, dropping points in both their opening league matches and being knocked out of Europe by little-known Czech side Jablonec.

Shankland has three goals in his four Premiership games this term, and midfielder Nicolas Raskin returned from the start against Falkirk after Rangers knocked back a loan bid from Turkish outfit Besiktas. Raskin was central to Shankland's opener, and Mc Innes hopes he will remain a Rangers player beyond Thursday's transfer deadline. On a busy day transfer-wise, Rangers also accepted a £1m loan offer from Anderlecht for Norway midfielder Thelo Aasgaard.