Match ends, Rangers 5, St. Johnstone 1.
RangersRangers5St JohnstoneSt Johnstone1
Dominant Rangers strolled to victory over St Johnstone to move up to second in the Scottish Premiership.
With league leaders Hearts and Celtic dropping points, Steven Gerrard's side moved above their rivals and narrowed the gap on top spot to five points.
Goals from James Tavernier, Alfredo Morelos, Scott Arfield and Kyle Lafferty gave the hosts a 4-0 lead.
A Blair Alston penalty pulled one back for St Johnstone, but Daniel Candeias soon made it five.
St Johnstone were left to rue a David Wotherspoon miss from close range with the scores still at 0-0, while Tony Watt and Wotherspoon again passed up a golden chances in the second half.
However, they were very much second best at Ibrox. Tommy Wright's men welcome Celtic to Perth in Wednesday's League Cup quarter-final.
Rangers boosted
News of Celtic's last-gasp defeat at Kilmarnock gave Rangers added incentive, while Hearts' draw with Livingston on Saturday had opened up the chance to close the gap at the top.
Joe Shaughnessy's trip on Tavernier handed Rangers a free-kick on the edge of the box and the Ibrox skipper curled the ball over the ball and into the net.
Tavernier hit the bar with another free-kick, while Saints goalkeeper Zander Clark denied Ryan Kent from close range and Ricky Foster cleared a Lassana Coulibaly header off the line.
But the second arrived when Morelos cut back onto his left foot to smash past Clark from inside the box.
Kent rattled the bar from Morelos' cut-back, but Arfield latched on to the rebound to rifle in a third.
Jon Flanagan was lucky his slack back-pass was not punished by Watt as the former Celtic striker clipped wide of Allan McGregor's post.
Clark did well to keep the score down as he turned away efforts from Kent and Arfield, but substitute Lafferty swept home a fourth from a flowing counter-attack.
Alston earned his side a spot-kick three minutes later as he was tripped by Connor Goldson, and hammered it down the middle.
But soon the gap was four again when Candeias finished after being teed up by Arfield.
Line-ups
Rangers
Formation 4-1-4-1
- 1McGregor
- 2TavernierSubstituted forEjariaat 56'minutes
- 6Goldson
- 19Katic
- 15Flanagan
- 17McCrorie
- 21Candeias
- 23CoulibalySubstituted forDorransat 63'minutes
- 37Arfield
- 14KentSubstituted forLaffertyat 71'minutes
- 20Morelos
Substitutes
- 3Worrall
- 4Dorrans
- 10Ejaria
- 11Lafferty
- 13Foderingham
- 16Halliday
- 40Middleton
St Johnstone
Formation 4-4-1-1
- 1Clark
- 19FosterBooked at 30mins
- 15KerrBooked at 70mins
- 5Shaughnessy
- 3Tanser
- 7WrightSubstituted forSwansonat 61'minutesBooked at 75mins
- 4Alston
- 26CraigSubstituted forNydamat 57'minutes
- 33Kennedy
- 10Wotherspoon
- 32WattSubstituted forKaneat 72'minutes
Substitutes
- 6Anderson
- 9Kane
- 11Swanson
- 12Mitchell
- 16McMillan
- 17Nydam
- 28Callachan
- Referee:
- Steven McLean
- Attendance:
- 48,729
Match Stats
Home TeamRangersAway TeamSt Johnstone
- Possession
- Home61%
- Away39%
- Shots
- Home21
- Away11
- Shots on Target
- Home10
- Away3
- Corners
- Home7
- Away4
- Fouls
- Home9
- Away10
Live Text
Post update
Full Time
Second Half ends, Rangers 5, St. Johnstone 1.
Post update
Attempt saved. Jason Kerr (St. Johnstone) header from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
Post update
Corner, St. Johnstone. Conceded by Nikola Katic.
Post update
Attempt blocked. Jason Kerr (St. Johnstone) header from the centre of the box is blocked.
Post update
Attempt missed. Danny Swanson (St. Johnstone) right footed shot from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the left.
Post update
Corner, St. Johnstone. Conceded by Jon Flanagan.
Post update
Attempt saved. Matthew Kennedy (St. Johnstone) right footed shot from the left side of the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
Post update
Connor Goldson (Rangers) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Post update
Foul by Christopher Kane (St. Johnstone).
Goal!
Goal! Rangers 5, St. Johnstone 1. Daniel Candeias (Rangers) left footed shot from the centre of the box to the centre of the goal. Assisted by Scott Arfield.
Post update
Ross McCrorie (Rangers) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Post update
Foul by Matthew Kennedy (St. Johnstone).
Post update
Penalty conceded by Scott Arfield (Rangers) after a foul in the penalty area.
Goal!
Goal! Rangers 4, St. Johnstone 1. Blair Alston (St. Johnstone) converts the penalty with a right footed shot to the centre of the goal.
Post update
Penalty St. Johnstone. Blair Alston draws a foul in the penalty area.
Post update
Corner, St. Johnstone. Conceded by Ross McCrorie.
Goal!
Goal! Rangers 4, St. Johnstone 0. Kyle Lafferty (Rangers) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Scott Arfield.
Post update
Attempt blocked. Alfredo Morelos (Rangers) header from the centre of the box is blocked.
Substitution
Substitution, St. Johnstone. Christopher Kane replaces Tony Watt.
Comments
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Don’t have a team I’d prefer to win the title this season, but would love it if just for once it wasn’t Celtic.
Glasgow finally has a team to be proud of thanks to Stevie G!
24 hrs later and...…...
Celt*c look all washed up & finished as Rodgers has lost the dressing room!
Very very interesting times ahead.....
Very impressed with the movement and the ability to win the ball back.
Also interested to hear about it being Armed Forces Day. What an excellent thing to do. Well done Rangers and their fans.
It's a pity not all clubs support our Armed Services.