A nervous Rangers cruised to a simple 1-0 win over St Mirren at SMiSA Stadium, moving them within three points of Scottish Premiership leaders Hearts.
Danny Rolle’s side took advantage of Kilmarnock’s 1-0 win over Hearts on Saturday night to close the gap and Tur Romance scored the only goal of the game as his team reignited their title challenge.
Rangers, who won against Motherwell on Saturday, knew they had to win to keep pace with second-placed Celtic, but they had to work hard to get the three points at Paisley.
Romens scores his first goal for Rangers at St Mirren.
For St Mirren, who are without a manager, they remain in 10th place, level on points with Kilmarnock, and have a very tough battle to avoid a relegation play-off spot, but caretaker manager Craig McLeish will be encouraged by his team’s stubborn performance.
How Rangers closed the gap on leaders Hearts
Rangers got off to a good start and forced their way into the hosts’ box in the early stages. Jaydee Gassama tried to score early, but missed his first shot with the outside of his boot.
Rangers players claimed a penalty when Nico Raskin dropped the ball into the hands of Alex Gogic inside the St Mirren box, but neither the referee nor VAR acted.
Alex Gothic impresses in St Mirren’s game against Rangers
St Mirren were forced to make an early change after a collision of heads between Jayden Richardson and Alex Godzic, with the former having to be sent off in the 17th minute to be replaced by Alan Campbell.
Moments later, Ryan Naderi pushed Shamal George, but his header didn’t have enough power to beat the goalkeeper.
Rangers took the lead after 30 minutes. Nico Raskin clipped a smart ball into a dangerous area towards the back post, and the onrushing Rommen guided the ball past George and into the goal.
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Tour Romans meets Nicholas Raskin’s cross at the back post to put Rangers ahead.
The visitors should have doubled their lead just before the interval when Romens whipped the ball into the six-yard box for Youssef Cermiti, but the striker managed to curl his shot on target from close range.
Rangers almost got their second goal with an hour left when James Tavanier curled a shot into the top corner from the edge of the box, but George crossed well and tipped his shot around the post.
George was brought on shortly after to deal with Naderi’s calm header, before Tavernier sent his shot wide of the target.
Youssef Cermiti missed a great chance for Rangers at St Mirren
The second half was rough, but the visitors were never able to leave the game. Killian Phillips took a shot before Mikey Moore’s curling attempt was stopped by George.
Jake Young then gave the hosts a great chance after receiving a long ball from under the top, but his shot went wide.
Thero Asgord’s late goal was disallowed for offside.
Rangers thought they had scored a point when substitute Thero Asgord had the ball in the back of the goal, but his shot was ruled out for offside.
After three successive draws on the road, Rangers and Danny Rolle were hugely relieved to hear the final whistle, keeping pace with Hearts and Celtic to keep this fascinating title race on track.
Role: It’s all about results
Rangers manager Danny Rolle said on Sky Sports:
“We won and it’s our eighth cup final. A clean sheet is always good. They didn’t have many chances and they weren’t that big of a chance. They could have scored more goals to make it easier for everyone in the last five or six minutes. But it was a reaction and now we look better in the standings.”
“We have eight games left, so we have to prepare for the next game. Now it’s all about the next game. We can be happy today, but we have to go again and again.
Danny Rolle saw Rangers take three points against St Mirren
“Results are everything, especially at this time of year. If we get a win and it’s a little dirty, we accept that. The last three performances were great but we didn’t get the right results, so we’ll take this win.”
“There were a couple of transition moments, offsides that shouldn’t have been offsides, and then it was 2-0. That’s what we can improve on. But I’m not concerned about that today. For me it’s more important to get the three points, which is huge.”
“The energy was really high this morning and you could feel it in the dressing room. I had really big belief. This is what we needed today and I’m proud of the team. After three consecutive draws, there was complete belief. We know what direction we want to go.”
MacLeish: I can see a lot of things positively.
St Mirren interim manager Craig McLeish told Sky Sports:
“It’s a shame we couldn’t get something out of this game. I couldn’t ask for more from the players for their effort and attitude towards the game. I think we showed real courage.”
“We will struggle at times against Rangers, they are a quality team and we thought we would limit them as much as possible.
St Mirren interim manager Craig McLeish was proud of his players against Rangers.
“From our point of view, it’s really disappointing to lose. There’s a lot to look back on, but there were a lot of great individual performances, so we have to take a lot of positives from that.”
“We probably didn’t have enough clear chances. We needed a little more confidence in the final third. We were able to get into some good areas at times, but we just lacked courage at the top end.
“We have to look at the Falkirk game, plan for that game and go from there. Whatever Keith (Lasley) and the board decide, we have a game plan ready for the Falkirk game. If someone comes in in between then that’s totally fine.”
“We know the situation we are in. We have to get points first.”
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