Rangers were held for the second time this season following a goalless draw against Kilmarnock.
Mendes and Pascali off in Rugby Park clash
Rangers were held for the second time this season following a goalless draw against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park.
The visitors yet again found themselves playing with ten men just before half-time when Pedro Mendes was given a second yellow card for a late challenge on Craig Bryson.
Danny Invincible spurned a great double-chance at the back post to give the home side the lead while Jamie Hamill was unlucky to see his volley crash off the upright.
Jim Jefferies' team evened up the numbers for the last ten minutes when Manuel Pascali needlessly saw red for blatantly hauling back Steven Davis by his shirt.
The draw means Kilmarnock have now gone four SPL matches without success while Celtic can usurp Gers at the summit of the table when Hearts visit Parkhead on Sunday.
Kilmarnock carved out the first chance of the game when Bryson picked out the towering figure of Conor Sammon in front of goal.
Comfortably smothered
He tried his luck with a downward header from close range but the striker was foiled in his efforts to claim the opener by goalkeeper Allan McGregor, who comfortably smothered in the Rangers goal.
Mendes then picked up his first yellow card - which would prove costly later on - for clipping the heels of Bryson but Killie failed to capitalise on the resultant free-kick when McGregor came out to gather a curving shot from Tim Clancy.
Rangers lacked any real creativity up front and Mendes resorted to a long-range shot which fizzed past the post and did little to trouble Mark Brown in the Killie goal.
Steven Naismith looked dangerous moments later when a point-blank shot was blocked by the legs of Brown as the home side held firm. He then ran onto a Davis ball only to be denied by Brown, who raced off his line to smother.
The game erupted two minutes from the interval when Mendes picked up a second yellow card for another foul on Bryson. The red card prompted a furious response from boss Walter Smith, who exchanged angry words with Sammon and was then sent to the stand by referee Steve Conroy as he continued to remonstrate in the dug-out.
After the restart, Invincibile passed up a great chance to open the scoring when his close-range header was blocked by McGregor, before hooking the rebound over the crossbar when he looked certain to leave the net bulging instead.
Killie continued to press and only the woodwork denied Hamill, when his swerving effort crashed off the inside of the post and back into play. Rangers managed to punt it back up the park, where John Fleck was waiting to draw a decent block from Brown.
Withdrawn
Kris Boyd had boasted an excellent record of 13 goals in 12 games against his former club but this clearly was not going to be his day and Rangers made a double change with an hour gone when Boyd and Novo were withdrawn to make way for Kevin Thomson and Kenny Miller.
With nine minutes to go, Kilmarnock were also reduced to 10 men when Pascali picked up a second yellow card for a foul on Davis.
Both sides were still searching for the goal which would now almost certainly decide the game and McGregor did well to parry a close-range volley from Sammon.
At the other end, Davis tried to play through Miller on goal but Brown was first to the ball to claim possession before the striker could pull the trigger.
The match ended devoid of goals but not without incident, with seven cautions plus the two dismissals.
