Rangers vs St Mirren. Scottish Premiership.
Ibrox StadiumAttendance500.
Match report as Rangers ease to victory over St Mirren; first-half goals from Scott Wright and Alfredo Morelos secured the win; it sees Rangers head into the winter break six points clear of Celtic; St Mirren are now without a win in 12 league matches
Sunday 26 December 2021 20:44, UK
Rangers eased to a 2-0 victory over St Mirren to ensure they head into the winter break six points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership.
Scott Wright opened the scoring for the Ibrox side early on, with Alfredo Morelos doubling the lead before half-time.
The win restored Rangers' six-point lead at the top of the Premiership after Celtic had won at St Johnstone in the early kick-off.
St Mirren were boosted by the return of some key players after suffering a Covid outbreak at the club, but they failed to make their mark at Ibrox and created little in the game.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst's winning start as Rangers manager continues while his St Mirren counterpart Jim Goodwin is now without a victory in 12 games.
Saints had 11 players missing with Covid issues against Celtic in midweek and still managed to battle to a creditable goalless draw but Jim Goodwin's side looked much stronger for facing the other side of the Old Firm.
Goalkeeper Jak Alnwick returned as did Alan Power, Jamie McGrath, Ryan Flynn and Ethan Erhahon.
Borna Barisic, Joe Aribo and Wright came back into the Rangers side at an almost empty stadium which almost saw a Gers goal in the third minute.
Gers forward Ryan Kent combined with Joe Aribo before setting up Morelos 12 yards out but his shot was blocked by Saints captain Joe Shaughnessy.
With that, the template was set.
As Rangers moved forward, the visitors retreated to the edge of their own box.
In the 10th minute Morelos headed a cross from Barisic over the bar but the goal soon arrived and it came from a James Tavernier corner.
The skipper's delivery into the box was headed on by Aribo at the front post and Wright's header at the back post crossed the line before Alnwick clawed the ball back and Morelos made sure.
Alnwick could have counted himself unfortunate at Rangers' second goal after initially making a terrific save from Morelos' header from a Barisic cross but the Light Blues forward pounced on the loose ball and rattled it into the net from six yards.
Alnwick denied Morelos in the 37th minute when he made a great save from the striker's powerful drive before diving down to his left-hand post to grab an effort from Aribo moments later.
Morelos was a man on a mission. He headed a Kent cross past the post then thundered a 20-yard drive over the bar before the break.
Wright struck the St Mirren post from a narrow angle on the hour-mark and Barisic flashed the rebound well over the bar as unconverted opportunities mounted.
Kent and Ianis Hagi made way for Scott Arfield and Fashion Sakala and the home side kept pressing with Alnwick making another fine save, this time from Tavernier's right-footed volley from outside the box.
But the tempo slowly departed the match and Morelos and Arfield missed the target with shots as the match fizzled out to a comfortable home win.
Rangers boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst: "I am very pleased. It was the last game before the break, I am happy with the performance. It was very controlled, defensively very good.
"We didn't give any chances away only in the last 10 or 15 minutes when we lost the ball a little bit too fast.
"But we created a lot of chances, we did well and I think the scoreline needed to be more, if you see all the chances we created.
"We hit the post, we had some chances and could have scored more and the intention was there to keep going and create chances and try to score more goals but it didn't happen for us in the second half.
"But I am happy with the win, happy with the zero and we can go into the break in the place we want, have a good rest and start over again in two weeks.
"We have two weeks to prepare for the Aberdeen game but also get our message across even more to the players, the way we want to play against different systems and situations. We have more time to become better and improve our game."
St Mirren boss Jim Goodwin: "I think barring one or two managers who are on a good run of form we are all desperate for a break now.
"It has been an extremely challenging fortnight for our club.
"I don't think I have ever looked forward to a break as much in my life.
"I don't think many people would have expected us to take a point from the games against Rangers and Celtic given all that has gone on.
"The fact we have only conceded two goals is also incredible.
"Obviously we don't like losing any games but what we have had to deal with over the past two weeks we will take the point out of the two games and move on."
After the winter break, Rangers travel to Aberdeen, while St Mirren visit Dundee United, with both Scottish Premiership games kicking off at 7.45pm on Tuesday January 18.
