Steven Naismith has admitted he hopes FIFA chiefs block Daniel Cousin's proposed move to Fulham so the striker can boost Rangers' title charge.Cousin should finally discover this week whether the £3million transfer can be completed even though he has already played for both Lens and Rangers this season.

In the meantime, he was drafted into the starting line-up for the first time since last month's win against Inverness and bagged the opener as Rangers earned a 4-2 win over Gretna in the SPL on Sunday.

Naismith - also on the scoresheet along with Chris Burke and Kris Boyd - admitted afterwards: "I think we would all prefer him to be here until the end of the campaign.

"He popped up with the opening goal and got us on our way. There hasn't been much change in him.

"He showed that he still loves the club and his reaction when he scored was great. Hopefully everybody will get behind him while he is still a Rangers player."

The win kept Rangers four points clear of Celtic at the summit of the SPL, following the Hoops' last-gasp win at St Mirren earlier in the day, and was the ideal present as Walter Smith celebrated his 60th birthday.

Naismith said: "Kenny (McDowall) and Coisty (Ally McCoist) arranged a cake for him yesterday afternoon at lunch so that was a surprise for him.

"It was good to give him his cake but I'm sure he doesn't want to be reminded about his age all the time.

"He has had a great career and hopefully that continues and we can get more trophies for him."

The defeat, combined with Kilmarnock's win over Aberdeen, leaves Gretna 12 points adrift at the bottom of the SPL but Naismith was impressed by the efforts of the basement boys.

He said: "I think they surprised us a bit. They have shown in the past they will fight to the death and they did that again.

"They popped up and got two goals and, luckily for us, we scored more than them.

"There are a lot of games left and a lot of twists and turns. They will just have to keep grinding away and pick up some points for their sake."

Kenny Deuchar - who was the last player to score against Rangers in domestic competition back on January 16 - managed to breach their defence twice on Sunday but it was not enough to prevent Gretna heading back to the Borders empty-handed.

It has been a tough week for the club, who lost their manager Davie Irons to Morton and faced rumours of being plunged into administration, and Deuchar admits a crucial match against Kilmarnock now awaits them on Wednesday night.

"It's difficult to sum up what kind of week it has been for us and it was disappointing to lose again," he said.

"But things seem to be getting sorted at the club which is positive for us.

"We've got a huge game on Wednesday and it's do or die - we probably need to win that game or else it's the end of the story."

More Football News from TEAMtalk