RANGERS finally broke their away-day hoodoo by getting their first win on the road in this season’s Premiership at the fifth attempt.

It looked as though they may not manage it though as Steven Boyd’s wonder-strike with 10 minutes remaining cancelled out Ryan Kent’s first-half opener, but Alex Penny gave away two penalties in three minutes to allow James Tavernier to put the game to bed by scoring twice from the spot, before Alfredo Morelos put the icing on the cake with one of the final kicks of the match.

Here are five talking points from the game…

JORDAN ROSSITER CAN CONTRIBUTE TO RANGERS, IF HE CAN STAY FIT

It was the former Liverpool midfielder’s first start for Rangers since the 5-5 draw with Hibernian on the last day of last season, but he didn’t show any signs of rust as he made yet another comeback from injury. It was just his 13th appearance in his two-and-a-half year Ibrox career to date.

If he can stay fit, a big if, then he showed here that he can undoubtedly add something to the Rangers midfield. He was good in possession, keeping the game ticking over well and showing an impressive range of passing, as well as being tough in the tackle and putting in a power of work as he patrolled the area in front of the back four.

RYAN KENT’S PACE CAN HELP OPEN UP PACKED DEFENCES

With the match drifting along towards half-time and Rangers huffing and puffing as they desperately searched for inspiration, the pace of Kent was crucial in breaking the deadlock.

Up until that point, the visitors had toiled to trouble the back five of Hamilton in any meaningful way, but as Morelos received the ball on the turn from Lassana Coulibaly, he knew that with Penny isolated one-on-one with Kent, any ball over the top would see his teammate outstrip his opponent and get in on goal.

The Colombian found the right pass, and Kent did the rest, drawing Gary Woods before clipping the ball beyond him to bring some life to what had been a desperately poor opening 45 minutes.

THE RANGERS DEFENCE WILL GIVE YOU A CHANCE

It may seem churlish to criticise the Rangers backline after the one goal they conceded on the day came from a wonder-strike, but if not for Hamilton’s wastefulness in attack, they could have easily conceded a few more.

There are still moments in matches that will concern manager Steven Gerrard, with long balls over the top proving especially troublesome to Connor Goldson and Nikola Katic, with the central pairing often guilty too of allowing balls to bounce before contesting them.

Katic in particular was guilty of several lapses in concentration, and his failure to deal with a bread and butter ball up the middle almost handed Hamilton an equaliser on a plate as Rakish Bingham fired at Allan McGregor before James Keatings put the rebound wide when he really should have scored.

That proved the final straw for Gerrard, hooking the out of sorts Croatian for Joe Worral, but moments later it was another piece of sloppy play from Goldson that let Hamilton substitute Steven Boyd pick up the ball and fire in a brilliant goal to haul Hamilton briefly level.

HAMILTON ARE SLOPPY AT THE BACK, AND WASTEFUL UP FRONT

Ironically, Hamilton’s goal on the day came from perhaps their hardest opportunity. Indeed, you could hardly call it a chance at all, but Boyd’s stunning strike that had Rangers briefly panicking can’t paper over the chances that Hamilton squandered.

Their bluntness in attack is matched only by their sloppiness in defence, a combination that explains their lowly league position, as huge lapses in concentration coast them dear at three of the four Rangers goals.

Unfortunately for Alex Penny, he was the fall guy on the day as he gave away two penalties in quick succession to gift Rangers the three points. First, he failed to deal with a low Daniel Candeias cross, chesting the ball onto his arm to leave referee Andrew Dallas with little choice but to point to the spot.

Then, moments later, he clumsily tripped Morelos as the Rangers striker was running away from goal to put the destination of the points beyond doubt.

Incidentally, the ever-reliable Tavernier now has scored seven penalties out of seven this season, with his other goal coming from a stunning free-kick against St Johnstone.

After shipping six in their last outing at Easter Road, the last thing Hamilton needed was another demoralising thumping, but on paper at least that is what they got, being caught out on the break in the last knockings of the game as Woods denied Candeias only for Morelos to pick up the scraps and bring the goals conceded column for Hamilton into double figures in their last two matches.

SCORELINES CAN BE DECEIVING

On the face of it, a final scoreline of 4-1 looks emphatic, but while Rangers did deserve to win the match in the end, the late goal glut gave the final outcome a gloss that was harsh on Hamilton and kind to the visitors.

Despite the ball ending up in the back of the net five times, there were large parts of the game that were uninspiring and lacking in quality, with Rangers finding it hard to break down the massed ranks of the Hamilton defence for long periods.

Gerrard’s men deserve credit for plugging away at the task, but there is no doubt they were given a huge helping hand by Alex Penny’s moments of madness.