fbpx Skip to main content

Rangers cut the gap at the top of the Scottish Premiership to two points with a comfortable 2-0 victory over 10-man St Johnstone at Ibrox Stadium this evening.

Cyriel Dessers opened the scoring in the 28th minute before a James Tavernier penalty sealed all three points for the hosts with six minutes to play.

The result concludes a perfect week for the Light Blues who topped their UEFA Europa League group last Thursday and won the Viaplay Cup on Sunday with a 1-0 victory over Aberdeen at Hampden.

Philippe Clement’s side are now two points behind league leaders Celtic with a game in hand. They will travel to Celtic Park to face their rivals on December 30.

The Rangers boss was pleased with the result but was left frustrated by the additions of Kemar Roofe and John Lundstram to his already large injury list. He said:

“It’s (John Lundstram) another player who is kicked off the pitch so I am really frustrated about that to be honest

“For me this is my main concern for after this game also. Again a player kicked off the pitch. It’s not sure that we can get him back before the winter break so it’s not a good situation.

“I don’t want to go into emotions directly after the game. I’m a little bit boiling now so it’s better to cool down first and then to make an opinion about leagues or whatever.

“It was clearly not a good challenge with your studs forward like that.

“We had a worse one later in the game, the guy (Daniel Phillips) luckily hit the ball but not my player (Kieran Dowell), but the intensity there was to break a leg. So those things are not good for football I think.”

Saints boss Craig Levein saw plenty of positives in his side’s performance despite the 2-0 defeat. He added:

“There was lots of effort and concentration and running from my team tonight that enabled us to get out of here losing 2-0 after playing over an hour with 10 men so plenty positives from there tonight.”