It was all going fairly smoothly.
Two goals to the good courtesy of Vacclav Cerny and a return to first-team duties for Ianis Hagi after a protracted stand-off. No sooner had the Romanian internationalist served up a reminder of his quality when he came off the bench to tee up Cerny’s second that he found himself back on the outside looking in.
The midfielder was late with a challenge on Benjamin Kimpioka. He offered an apology almost immediately to the grounded forward but VAR was quick to offer a word in the ear of referee David Dickinson. A quick look at the monitor and Hagi was shown a straight red card eight minutes from time to compete a nightmare return for the player.
Clearly frustrated, he looked to be in tears as he left the pitch to the consolations of the Rangers bench.
It was the only real drama of what was a fairly straightforward evening.
It might have been a victory with a significantly wider margin had the Ibrox side been a little more clinical, although there will be prevailing feeling that it is all about banking points. That was particularly pertinent given that Celtic and Aberdeen had both claimed late winners earlier in the day with Rangers ill positioned to allow either team to stretch their lead further.
The oddness of the Sunday evening 8pm kick-off made for a fairly flat atmosphere with pockets of empty seats around the stadium.
Still, Rangers were eager to get up and running as they looked to banish Thursday night’s Europa League defeat to Lyon.
Philippe Clement’s side had ample pressure but found it difficult to break St Johnstone down.
Cyriel Dessers ought to have given Rangers an early lead when he headed over from James Tavernier’s cross.
Ross McCausland was similarly profligate while Tavernier whipped a free-kick just wide of the target.
Cerny gave Rangers the breakthrough eleven minutes before the break when he curled an effort into the bottom left-hand corner after cutting inside.
He doubled the Ibrox side’s lead just before the hour mark after collected an intelligent pass from Hagi – in his first start of the season – before slotting a right-footed finish into the far corner.
Drafted back into Clement’s first-team squad after a stand-off over a salary clause was rectified last week, the pass was a reminder of the little bit of quality that the midfielder can offer.
Adama Sidibeh tried to give St Johnstone a little hope when he unleashed an effort that slipped just wide of the target.
Makenzie Kirk drew a save from Jack Butland although his better option would have been to cut the ball across for the lurking Kimpioka.
Simo Valakari will take charge of Saints after the international break but there was more for him to take from pockets of this performance than there was from last week’s horror showing against Celtic.
Hagi’s dismissal was almost met with St Johnstone pulling a goal back only for Nicky Clark’s effort to be ruled offside.
At the other end, Neraysho Kasanwirjo lashed a rasping 20-yard effort that Ross Sinclair tipped over the bar.
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