Manuel Pascali plays to whistle and has the last ‘laugh’ for Shiels’ side

The Italian defender looped a header over Rangers goalkeeper Allan McGregor to give Kilmarnock their first Rugby Park victory over the Ibrox men for 17 years, sparking wild celebrations among the home support.

When Garry Hay played the ball into the penalty area, after a corner kick had been cleared, Pascali felt certain he had been left offside by the advancing Rangers players. However, he was left in a legitimate scoring position by the slow-to-react Rangers debutant Sone Aluko.

“When the ball came in, I just thought I’d head it into the net for a laugh,” said Pascali. “I was sure I was offside. But I always play to the whistle and when I looked round, I saw Aluko there and the linesman’s flag was not up.

“It’s the greatest day of my football life. I can’t believe how long it is since Kilmarnock beat Rangers here and I think we will be legends now for the Kilmarnock fans.”

It was by far the most significant victory yet of Kenny Shiels’ tenure as Kilmarnock manager and one he felt his players fully deserved.

“I’m really pleased for the people of the town,” said Shiels. “I still can’t get my head around how people from Kilmarnock, or other towns, support the Old Firm and not their own clubs. So this makes it even more satisfying for the people who have waited 17 years for this result.

“I felt we could win this game if we worked well in certain areas. It all worked really well for us. Destiny had a part to play, because Rangers hit a post and Alejandro Bedoya missed a good chance to equalise. It wasn’t their day. With the bad luck we have had this season, we deserved to be fortuitous today.

“But we had good chemistry in the team today and it was an excellent collective performance. It is definitely the most satisfying win I’ve had as manager. But there’s no point just turning up for games against the Old Firm. If we don’t perform to that level again against Aberdeen next week, then it’s not been worthwhile.”