Match report as Rangers ease to victory against St Johnstone; Alfredo Morelos and Ryan Kent scored either side of half-time at Ibrox; they remain clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership; St Johnstone remain bottom of the table
Wednesday 15 December 2021 23:40, UK
Rangers continued their winning run with a 2-0 victory over St Johnstone to maintain their four-point lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership.
The Ibrox side dominated from the first whistle, with St Johnstone goalkeeper Zander Clark producing a string of saves to keep the match goalless.
Rangers took the lead just before half-time when striker Alfredo Morelos was left unmarked to head in Connor Goldson's ball at the back post.
Morelos set up Ryan Kent for the second just after the break, squaring the ball to the winger to fire under Clark.
St Johnstone struggled to create chances and were screaming for a penalty when Glen Kamara appeared to bring down Liam Craig in the box, but it was the Saints defender who picked up a booking.
The result sees Rangers remain four points clear of Celtic, who snatched a last-gasp 2-1 win at Ross County, at the top of the Scottish Premiership, while St Johnstone stay bottom and without a league win since October.
Rangers manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst also maintains his 100 per cent league record with five wins out of five since replacing Steven Gerrard.
Saints were the last Scottish team to beat Rangers at Ibrox, on their way to winning last season's Scottish Cup, but the game was gone before they started creating any chances.
Rangers were aggressive going forward and Kent should have had a hat-trick before half-time, but was denied by Clark three times and dragged another effort wide.
Defenders James Brown, Shaun Rooney, and Jamie McCart cleared the danger to stop Rangers' attackers as the visitors clung on, before Morelos eventually found the goal just before half-time.
The Colombian striker was left unmarked at the back post to nod in his 12th goal of the season after Goldson had flicked on James Tavernier's corner.
Within five minutes of the restart Kent finally scored his goal as he swept home from close-range after Joe Aribo played in Morelos to square the ball across the box.
The visitors improved and McCart was off target with a free header before they had a penalty claim denied after Craig intercepted Borna Barisic's pass to Kamara and burst into the box.
The midfielder decided to go down looking for a spot-kick with Kamara in close pursuit rather than go for goal and then smothered the ball with his hands. The referee gave Rangers a free-kick and booked Craig for his subsequent dissent.
The midfielder is in form right now and impressed once again, even out of possession, as Rangers constantly recovered the ball to prevent St Johnstone creating many chances.
Aribo was unlucky not to score early on when his shot came crashing off the woodwork.
He constantly found clever pockets of space to combine with team-mates, and was deserving of his man-of-the-match award.
Rangers boss Giovanni Van Bronckhorst: "The way we started, the first 15-20 minutes, we created so many chances to go 1-0 up.
"After that we didn't create as much because they were defending really deep and it was difficult for us to find our spaces.
"The goal just before half-time really helped us to go into half-time and change a little bit our position on the pitch.
"The second half, we created the spaces we wanted and started it well. We scored a good goal, a very high-speed goal."
Van Bronckhorst allayed fears over Borna Barisic after the left-back was forced off.
"He's OK," the Dutchman said. "He was just not feeling well. He's not injured."
St Johnstone boss Callum Davidson: "One team held the ball up well and linked play. For me that was the most disappointing thing.
"In the 42nd minute we were trying to flick balls round corners when it was important we stayed in the game. We could have seen the game through to half-time.
"If someone takes it off him by fighting and scrapping I will accept it but not little flicks round the corner with two minutes to go. It basically cost us the chance of getting something from the game.
"We lost Chris Kane with the new Covid household rule.
"These new rules just came in on Friday and I end up losing my main striker for 10 days. First and foremost I do hope the family member is safe and well, most importantly.
"But it's a bitter blow, a real hard one to take, that we are going to lose Chris for these important games coming up.
"I lost a member of staff this morning in similar circumstances. It's not just going to be us at St Johnstone, I think it's going to be everyone."
Dundee United are confident Saturday's match against Rangers will go ahead despite the club cancelling Wednesday's training session at their St Andrews base due to a Covid-19 scare.
The Tannadice club are awaiting the results of PCR tests after a positive lateral flow was returned within the squad.
The situation will become clearer on Thursday but United are optimistic there is no threat to their trip to Ibrox at the weekend.
If a team has 13 players, including a goalkeeper, over the age of 18, they are obliged to fulfil the fixture.
Rangers host Dundee United on Saturday, while St Johnstone travel to Motherwell, also on Saturday, with both Scottish Premiership games kicking off at 3pm.
