THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
GLASGOW, Scotland — Rangers captured its second straight Scottish Premier League title after Kyle Lafferty scored the only goal in a 1-0 win at Hibernian on Sunday.
Lafferty put Rangers ahead after 17 minutes to earn Walter Smith’s men a victory that puts them out of reach of second-place Celtic, despite its 2-0 win at Dundee United earlier in the day.
"It seems to have been one of the hardest (titles) but maybe I’ve felt like that after every one of them," said Smith, who has won nine championships with Rangers in two spells with the club.
The team is saddled with substantial debts and hasn’t signed a player since American midfielder Maurice Edu arrived in August 2008. Smith has been working without a contract since January and isn’t sure he will be at the club next season.
Rangers now has 83 points to Celtic’s 72, with only three games remaining. It is Rangers’ 53rd league title triumph — Celtic have 42 while the next best are Aberdeen, Hearts and Hibernian with four. Aberdeen was the last club other than Rangers or Celtic to win the league and that was under Alex Ferguson in 1984-85.
Diomansy Kamara gave Celtic a 30th-minute lead before Robbie Keane scored an injury-time penalty after Dundee United had been reduced to 10 men for Jennison Myrie-Williams’ second yellow card.