Michael Beale's blunt side, which included five debutants from the off, failed to truly trouble the organised and resolute hosts, who secured a well-deserved victory as Brad Lyons capitalised on poor defending to sweep in a 65th-minute winner.
Aside from first-half efforts from Cyriel Dessers and John Lundstram, and a John Souttar header after the break, the visitors' attacking play was limited in a disjointed display.
Even this early in the campaign, the result is a damaging one for Beale, who knows there is little room for error with his side already behind their Old Firm rivals.
That should take nothing away from a sensational showing from Kilmarnock, who came close to extending their lead with drives from Kyle Magennis and Danny Armstrong.
The victory is the Ayrshire side's first over Rangers since April 2020 and ends the Ibrox club's 20-game unbeaten run in opening top-flight fixtures.
Servette did what Rangers couldn’t ahead of their midweek meeting and summoned a last gasp equaliser to avoid domestic defeat.
The Swiss side warmed up for the first instalment of their Champions League third round qualifier against Michael Beale’s men with a1-1 draw way to Stade Lausanne. And it looked like Rene Weiler’s men were going to suffer the same fate as Beale’s team, who went down 1-0 to Kilmarnock in their first outing of the Scottish Premiership campaign.
Instead, they find themselves three points off the pace already after Celtic unfurled the flag and then took care of business with victory over Ross County. Just 90 minutes in and Rangers are playing catch-up.
This was certainly not in the script. There is no need to overreact and it would be silly to write Rangers off on the back of one competitive outing after a summer of significant change.
A seasoned Rangers observer noted before kick-off that there wasn’t a seat to be had in the away section while gaps could be spotted around the rest of Rugby Park, and questioned just why Kilmarnock were persisting with such a ticketing policy. He had his answer 90 minutes later. More and more clubs are coming around to the realisation that pandering to the Old Firm may deliver a short-term financial fillip but does nothing for growing a community club in the long run. And having more of your fans in the ground than theirs can’t do any harm during a tense, closely-fought match like this one either.
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