FIVE THINGS
RANGERS moved up to second place in the Scottish Premiership table with a convincing thumping of St Johnstone at Ibrox yesterday.
Goals from James Tavernier, Alfredo Morelos, Scott Arfield, Kyle Lafferty and Daniel Candeias rendered Blair Alston’s consolation from the penalty spot meaningless, as Steven Gerrard’s men closed the gap on Hearts at the summit to five points.
The Sunday afternoon stroll gave the Rangers manager plenty of reasons for optimism, both with the display on the field and the strength of the cast waiting in the wings. the Scottish Premiership may well be hoping that he is sidelined for a while after seeing him in this mood.
His opening goal that got the party started at Ibrox was from a free-kick around 25 yards from goal, and it was a peach, curling up and over the wall and leaving St Johnstone keeper Zander Clark with no chance.
There was a sense of inevitability that the net would bulge again later in the first half as Richard Foster took out Ryan Kent on the edge of the area, and the only surprise was that the ball cannoned off the crossbar rather than nestling into the top corner.
The right-back has been criticised in the past for his shortcomings in a defensive sense, but he provides Rangers with such a threat going forward, having now bagged four goals this season already. is in the mood, there is no doubting the quality of the Colombia internationalist.
He was certainly in the right frame of mind here as he worked his socks off in wide areas, never gave the defenders a moment’s peace, and got into danger areas at the right times.
He scored the second goal and it was no more than his display deserved. He might have had more, but he can be satisfied with his day’s work.
“Morelos in the second half was stunning, it was a stunning No. 9 performance,” said Gerrard afterwards – and it was hard to argue. The Rangers wide men switched sides during the first half on a couple of occasions, to great effect, with Candeias coming over to the left and using the ball well as he cut back inside, before Kent resumed his normal role and gave former Rangers man Richard Foster a whole new set of problems with his direct running beyond the right-back.
That was exemplified as he chopped the on-loan Liverpool man down crudely as he showed him a clean pair of heels and advanced towards the area.
It was fitting that Candeias was the man to put the icing on the cake for Rangers with the fifth goal of the day and he justifiably claimed the man-of-the-match award too.
The defensive display put on here from St Johnstone was entirely uncharacteristic of a Tommy Wright side, allowing their opponents far too much time and space on the ball. With Rangers having their tails up, the last thing the visitors could afford to do was offer them any encouragement, but they were so slack both in and out of possession that there was only ever going to be one outcome.
Rangers deserve huge credit for the way they tore the visitors apart, while also showing patience to shift the ball from side-to-side when they had to in order to open up space. Invariably, they managed to do just that all too easily.