Rangers take revenge on St Mirren to retain 16-point Premiership lead

The Rangers maintain their 16-point lead atop the Scottish Premiership after avoiding a repeat of their League Cup loss to St Mirren with ease.

But first-half goals from Kemar Roofe and Alfredo Morelos were enough to send the Rangers into Saturday’s Old Firm derby after 13 consecutive league wins.

Jonathan Obika seized St Mirren’s best chance shortly before the first match.

The Rangers have responded to that League Cup exit with four straight wins in their best start in the top flight since 1928 as they prepare to host second reigning champion Celtic.

Despite the end of his seven-game undefeated home run, St Mirren is still seventh.

Considering the League Cup exit and the fact that St Mirren had had its best league start since 1988, this was always going to be a huge test of the Rangers’ title credentials.

It was no surprise that local coach Jim Goodwin returned to the more defensive starting lineup that secured his spot in the semi-finals and Jamie McGrath, scorer of two of his goals that night, was the first to threaten when the midfielder dispossessed a bum. Steven Davis and fired a direct low shot at goalkeeper Allan McGregor.

St Mirren looked as confident as the restless Rangers, as two of the three returning players combined to give the visitors another scare.

McGregor, who made his 400th appearance during two spells with the Ibrox club, was unable to contain Dylan Connolly’s low shot through a sea of ​​legs and Obika was only able to get his shot from close range on the turn over the crossbar.

St Mirren’s early work was undone when Ianis Hagi swooped into a confusion between two opponents and played through Roofe to overtake goalkeeper Jak Alnwick via a deflection from the hosts’ other League Cup scorer, Conor. McCarthy.

The forward’s 10th goal in 14 games was quickly followed by Morelos’s first in nine games as the Colombian international pounced on Joe Shaughnessy’s messy pass to overtake former Rangers goalkeeper Alnwick.

St Mirren got off to a better start again after the break, but it was the Rangers who came closest to adding to the scoreboard when Alnwick saved from Morelos and the visitors seemed capable of losing the rest of the game while conserving energy before that even bigger test for come.

Man of the match – Jonathan Obika

What did we learn?

The lightning bolts didn’t strike twice for St Mirren, they rarely do for provincial teams against either of the Old Firm halves, but they can perk up by upsetting the league leaders once again.

Goodwin got his tactics right and will hope this is just a glimpse of a hot streak since ending a six-game losing streak in October at the time of his Covid outbreak.

Meanwhile, the Rangers continue to polish the results despite failing to replicate their fluency at the start of the season in recent weeks, but they will need to combine those elements of teamwork and tenacity to outperform a Celtic team recovering from its own difficult streak.

It was also a victory achieved by dropping winger Ryan Kent to the bench and that, coupled with Morelos’s goal of being reinstated to the starting lineup, leaves Gerrard with some big decisions to make on Saturday.

Whats Next?

The Rangers head into what could be a decisive top-of-the-table clash at home to Celtic on Saturday (12:30 GMT) before St Mirren visits a Kilmarnock team two points behind them in the table (15:00).

More to follow.