Rangers earned a narrow but comfortable 1-0 victory over St Johnstone to end their poor run of away form in the Scottish Premiership.
Amid ongoing speculation about Philippe Clement’s future, the Light Blues travelled to Perth on the back of a stunning 4-1 Europa League win away in Nice on Thursday night which took them a step closer to the knockout stages.
However, Rangers lapsed back into a dour style of football which has characterised their league season, their winner coming in the 63rd minute of an improved second half through an own goal by former Gers midfielder Jason Holt to earn their first away win in the league since September.
Clement’s side remain in third place, 11 points behind leaders Celtic with title hopes still looking threadbare and with Gers fans remaining puzzled by the Jekyll and Hyde nature of this season.
Nedim Bajarmi rues missing a first-half chance at St Johnstone
The Belgian boss is still searching for consistency of performance and consistency of selection. Brazilian forward Danilo, not in the Gers’ European squad, was available again which meant Clement had three options for the lone striker’s role.
Moroccan striker Hamza Igamane, who scored a double against Nice, got the nod over Danilo and regular forward Cyriel Dessers.
Romania midfielder Ianis Hagi, also absent from the European squad, made his first Rangers start since May 2023, while skipper James Tavernier came in for the injured Dujon Sterling.
Saints were unchanged from the side that started the 1-0 win over Kilmarnock last week and for the most part they contained the visitors in the first half.
In the 15th minute Gers winger Vaclav Cerny ended a decent move when he cut in from the right and drilled a shot just wide of the target from the edge of the box.
Less than 10 minutes later, as the Ibrox side stepped up the pace, Saints ‘keeper Josh Rae dived to his left to push a low drive from Igamane wide of the target, after the Gers striker had been set up by Connor Barron.
Ianis Hagi has a shot at goal at St Johnstone
Gers winger Nedim Bajrami failed to connect properly from a Tavernier cut-back before his drive following a cleared corner was saved by Rae at his near post.
Bajrami and defender Robin Propper made way for Ridvan Yilmaz and Leon Balogun for the start of the second half while for the home side, midfielder Aaron Essel replaced Graham Carey.
Rae had little to do in the second half before the 55th minute, when he made a decent save from Tavernier’s 25-yard free-kick.
Danilo then replaced left-back Jefte as Clement reshuffled his side again and soon they were ahead.
With Saints pinned back into their own box, when Hagi’s cross from the left looped over Rae’s head and the luckless Holt could only turn the ball into his own net on the goal line under pressure from Tavernier, who would have netted.
Rae made saves from Danilo and Hagi as Rangers controlled possession and the Saints keeper thwarted Danilo twice more as the visitors dominated the latter stages.
‘Rangers are a tough watch’
Sky Sports‘ Kris Boyd:
“Philippe Clement will be happy with getting three points but if he’s happy with the performance then wow.
“Rangers are a tough watch right now but you can’t moan all the time. They’ve got the three points, that’s the most important thing.”
Sky Sports’ Chris Sutton:
“It’s about three points today, coming back from a brilliant win in the week. Rangers aren’t fluent in the final third but in terms of a result, it’s the most comfortable 1-0 you’ll see.”
Clement: We need to score more to be sexy
Rangers manager Philippe Clement told Sky Sports:
“A well-deserved victory, domination all the game. We only give one shot on target away. But you need to score more goals to be more sexy, to be what we want to be for our fans, to have more entertainment in that way, but also to kill the belief of opponents.
“That’s still a working point but I see a lot of positive things with the squad. Players are growing, becoming better, doing the right things more and more.
“It’s important after a European trip, a big victory, to react directly domestically also and to get the deserved points. And that was the case today.”
Valakari: We gave our heart and soul
St Johnstone boss Simo Valakari told Sky Sports:
“What we were talking about before the match, stay in the match, give yourself a chance to compete. We did that.
“But then, in the end, the final push, we are not there yet but overall my players put their heart and soul there. They did a lot of good things.
“We could ask more questions about their back line. We did not do it. But at the same time, Rangers, their counter-press was very high level. We didn’t have time to breathe, to get out of those moments.”
