Rangers were finally able to celebrate their Scottish Championship title win following a 1-0 victory over Dumbarton.

After "failing miserably" in the words of Dave King in their first season in the Championship, a second stumble in the second tier was not an option.

New manager Mark Warburton didn't disappoint, delivering the league crown to Ibrox at the first time of asking and securing the club's place at the country's top table.

We look back at Rangers' season-long battle with Alan Stubbs' Hibernian and Peter Houston's Falkirk and seven key dates in the title race.

Before a ball was kicked the Scott Allan transfer saga between the two clubs kick-started a rivalry that would run throughout the campaign. The midfielder may have ended up at Celtic but the effects of the move provided background music to the start of the season.

Warburton's team delivered a glimpse of their early free-scoring style during a 6-2 Challenge Cup win at Easter Road and when the teams met again at Ibrox in August, they showed their steely side.

James Tavenier's free-kick beat Mark Oxley and gave the Light Blues first blood in the league as Stubbs' men slumped to a second loss in three games.

Hibernian were on a roll by the time Halloween arrived and they reduced the deficit at the top to five points by inflicting Rangers' first league loss of the campaign.

Jason Cummings and Paul Hanlon grabbed the goals in between a Darren McGregor own goal at Easter Road. Warburton's side would go on to drop points at Livingston later in the month with questions being asked over a perceived "soft centre" at the heart of the side.

Rangers made adjustments following this game with Dominic Ball, usually a defender, sometimes operating as a defensive midfielder to give the Ibrox men more steel in bigger games.

The stakes could hardly have been higher going into one of the games of the season. Rangers had dropped points against Morton and Falkirk in the fortnight leading up to the match while Hibernian edged out Queen of the South to leave both teams level on 41 points after 17 matches.

Both teams produced a holiday humdinger after nine days of build-up with Jason Holt scoring a first-half double to help the home side on their way to victory. Andy Halliday's red card following a clash with Fraser Fyvie would prove to be a talking point for weeks to follow with the decision eventually overturned and the Hibs midfielder banned for two games for simulation. The rest of the post-match fall out centred on sectarian singing, leading to a charge from the SPFL.

Warburton believed his team had answered their critics and set down a marker in the promotion race while Hibernian saw Falkirk leapfrog them into second spot a day later.

Earlier in the term Alan Stubbs had railed against those who claimed his team remained "bottlers" and the club's winter form seemed to show that tag no longer applied. Having beaten Premiership opposition Aberdeen, Dundee United and St Johnstone on the way to the League Cup final, the men from Leith looked like true top flight material.

The term to "Hibs it" would resurface following a disastrous week which would see the Easter Road men lose three consecutive league matches and bring their title challenge to an end.

Morton shocked the league by running out comprehensive 3-0 winners in the capital thanks to goals from Thomas O'Ware, Denny Johnstone and Ross Forbes as Rangers began to pull away.

This weekend perhaps marked the small margins between success and failure between Rangers and Hibernian in the league.

Having squeezed past Queen of the South one week previously, Mark Warburton's men had to wait until the 86th minute to see off a stubborn St Mirren side with Harry Forrester capitalising on a poor clearance to curl the ball past Jamie Langfield.

Meanwhile Hibernian's headache following their midweek loss to Morton was compounded by another defeat, this time to part-time Dumbarton. Liam Henderson gave the visitors the lead but former Hearts duo Christian Nade and Darren Barr struck to hurt the Easter Road men once more.

If there was any doubt over the destination of the Championship then it ended on March 1. Harry Forrester and Lee Wallace scored to give Rangers a comfortable 2-0 home win while Hibs continued to implode.

On-loan Ibrox kid Andy Murdoch scored the winner as Queen of the South beat Hibs 1-0 in Dumfries to see the gap at the top stretch to 14 points with just nine matches remaining.

Upon hearing news of Murdoch's strike, fans at Ibrox starting chanting "stand up for the champions."

After being forced to wait a little longer following a 3-3 draw with Raith Rovers, Rangers completed the job thanks to a 1-0 win over Dumbarton.

James Tavernier scored the winning goal from Jason Holt's cutback and the celebrations could begin at Ibrox.