Rangers handed Celtic the initiative in the race for the SPL title after Walter Smith's men needed a late Nacho Novo strike to earn them a 1-1 draw at Hibernian.

The Old Firm duo are now level on points with two games to go, but Celtic, who beat Dundee United 2-1 on Tuesday, are in the driving seat, for now, due to a superior goal difference of two.

Hibs took the lead four minutes before the interval as Derek Riordan curled home and Ranges had to wait until the 80th minute to level matters with Novo pouncing on a rebound after Kyle Lafferty's shot had been saved.

Novo thought he had equalised earlier but the officials judged that the ball had not crossed the line and despite the importance of the match Smith honoured the decision of the referee.

"The players say it was a goal. The referee and linesman obviously say that it's not a goal so therefore it's not," said the former Scotland boss.

"Certainly from the dugout area, you couldn't tell whether the ball was over the line but the majority of players that were around there say that they felt that it was over the line.

"It's a disappointing one if it was in. Maybe even on television, it will be difficult to tell but, to be fair, it looks as though the full-back did scoop it over the line. We just have to get on with it."

Meanwhile, Scott Arfied scored the only goal as Falkirk beat Hamilton Accies to climb off the foot of the table, Motherwell and Inverness drew 2-2 while Kilmarnock beat St Mirren 2-1.