Rangers closed the gap on second-placed Celtic with a 2-1 win over St Mirren at Ibrox, but they still remain six points behind Scottish Premiership leaders Hearts.
The Gers are without a win in their last four league games against stubborn St Mirren, but have looked comfortable in recent encounters, with both teams scoring late in the first half from well-executed set-pieces.
After a corner, Cerro Asgaard opened the scoring from a defiant shot from Jayden Meghoma, before Youssef Cermiti teed up Emmanuel Fernandes and slipped under Shamal George from another corner routine.
Cerro Asgord scores Rangers’ first goal.
Rangers were in full control until referee Ryan Lee gave St Mirren a lifeline, penalizing Fernandes for an unavoidable handball after being sent to the pitchside monitor by VAR.
The decision was tough, and perhaps justice was done after Marcus Fraser was denied a spot-kick by Jack Butland, but confidence briefly returned among the visitors.
Emmanuel Fernandes scores the winning goal for Rangers
Stephen Robinson’s side then gained momentum and Mikael Mandron halved the gap, with St Mirren applying pressure but ultimately failing to capitalize on it, missing three of their four big chances to equalize. Butland was needed many times.
Rangers are in the race to push Hearts into the top spot and are now within three points of Celtic, who dropped in the table against Motherwell, while St Mirren remain in contention at the other end of the table in 10th place. Celtic and Rangers will clash in the Old Firm derby on January 3, which will be broadcast live on Sky Sports.
Saturday, January 3rd 11:30am
12:30pm kickoff
Rolle happy with progress after reigniting title fight
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Danny Rolle talks about Rangers’ 2-1 win over St Mirren, the title race, potential January signings and their next game against Celtic.
Rangers manager Danny Rohr:
“I’m happy, but it’s difficult to play against St Mirren. We deserved to win. We played great football for 75 minutes. Youssef Cermiti put in a great performance and the fans recognized that.”
“We hope that we can continue with the points and wins in 2026. We have worked hard, but we still need to improve. We will see what we can do in January as well. If we can create a good January with the board, we can create a good future. We are preparing for January and are talking about this regularly.”
Regarding the title race, he said: “When I took over, we had 14 or 15 points. Now we’re closer to six points, but we still have a long way to go. Overall, I’m happy and I think the players will be too.”
Robinson: “Bad set pieces cost us”
St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson:
“We were very good in the second half, lots of chances, missed penalties and a couple of clearances from the line.
“Jack Butland was man of the match. We had too much respect for Rangers in the first half. It’s a shame that we conceded from two set-pieces in the second phase.”
“We didn’t deserve anything more because of our defending on the two set-pieces, but many people watching might say we deserved the point.”
