SAINTS ARE SIMPLY OUTMUSCLED BY CLINICAL MORELOS
Saints just can’t handle power play of the Rangers striker as his opening goal puts Ibrox men on the road to victory
He has the capacity to make a rival’s bottom lip quiver
BIGGER players than Scott Tanser have been bullied by Rangers striker Alfredo Morelos this season. More experienced ones, too.
It might not come as much consolation to St Johnstone’s English full-back when he reflects on this game.
But it is a fact nonetheless. Now on a dozen goals in an already prolific season, the Rangers striker has the capacity to make an opponent’s bottom lip quiver.
The latest evidence came in a 47th-minute intervention that broke resistance in Perth and set up an ultimately comfortable three points for Steven Gerrard’s side.
Tanser didn’t exactly bathe himself in glory as he sought to prevent Morelos latching on to Ryan Jack’s long ball.
But the strength and composure shown by his Colombian adversary emphasised so much of what is good about the forward’s game.
Brushing off Tanser’s attempt to deny him possession, Morelos surged forward to smash an unstoppable shot beyond Saints goalkeeper Zander Clark. Any fear Rangers had of slipping up was effectively extinguished in that moment. All their previously fruitless play was rendered irrelevant by the indispensable focal point of their attack.
Morelos didn’t score in Thursday night’s emotion-soaked Europa League success over Feyenoord, yet still left the Dutch club’s centre-backs in a state of distress.
On an afternoon when Fernando Ricksen was again honoured by another impeccable minute’s silence, the 23-year-old restored a crucial and clinical finishing touch to his link-up play. His replacement by Jermain Defoe after 79 minutes drew a loud ovation from the visiting support. By then, Connor Goldson had made the win safe by doubling the advantage.
Defoe duly spread plentiful icing on the cake by scoring twice. The margin felt a bit tough on Saints but Rangers more than merited their success — which keeps them three points behind Celtic — for a vastly improved and dominant second-half showing.
Their Old Firm defeat earlier this month remains the solitary blip on the campaign. Responding with three straight wins will encourage Gerrard, given the flakiness too often witnessed last term.
Wednesday evening now brings an opportunity to secure a return to Hampden when Rangers travel to Livingston for a Betfred Cup quarter-final.
Saints exited that competition at the group stage and are without a win from their first six Premiership matches. That makes grim reading for Tommy Wright, whose side now prop up the Premiership following Hearts’ win over Hibs yesterday.
Rangers had to come from behind to win here on their solitary visit last season — requiring an 88th-minute goal from Morelos — so Gerrard was far from relaxed about the chance of encountering problems in Perth.
Even so, the timing of the fixture was perhaps of greater concern. The Ibrox manager was unhappy about an early lunchtime start being scheduled after another demanding European Thursday evening.
You could argue there was a bit of sluggishness about the first half. Rangers were largely the better side and fashioned more chances. Yet that little bit of necessary sparkle was absent from their play.
Gerrard had made only two changes to his Feyenoord line-up, with Joe Aribo and Brandon Barker introduced for Glen Kamara and Scott Arfield.
It was midweek scorer Sheyi Ojo who was initially the liveliest of the players asked to get close to Morelos. The Liverpool loanee was taken down by Murray Davidson to concede a sixth-minute free-kick, clipped narrowly wide of target by Borna Barisic.
Then Jack dabbed a little through-ball to find Morelos just inside the area. The Colombian striker rolled away from Jason Kerr but his low, angled strike was superbly blocked by the spreading figure of Clark.
Gerrard must have hoped that incisive move would soon be replicated. It wasn’t. There was a lack of conviction about too many of Rangers’ attacking movements during the opening period.
Steven Davis sought to amend that by spearing a pass wide right to Ojo. The winger skipped away from the slipping Tanser only for a deflected shot to be turned around the post by Clark.
Ojo was again the recipient when James Tavernier launched a ball forward. This time, he was partially held up by Tanser before wriggling his way inside to send a left-foot curler beyond the far post.
Having survived those flurries, Saints began to assert themselves as the half wore on. They could have even nicked a 36th-minute lead from a prime opportunity.
Stevie May did enough against Filip Helander to divert Clark’s long ball forward into a dangerous area. Goldson was caught on his heels as Michael O’Halloran darted in. Jeered by the visiting support, the former Rangers player would have silenced those boos but for Allan McGregor making a fine save with his legs.
Wright had made one enforced tweak to the team that drew at Pittodrie the previous weekend, with Jason Holt ineligible against his parent club and replaced by David Wotherspoon.
The Saints manager must have been encouraged by the way his players ended the opening 45 minutes. More of the same would have done him just fine. Instead, they were behind within 90 seconds of the restart.
Jack blocked an attempted shot before getting away a long accurate pass. It pitched Morelo against Tanser 30 yards from goa The Ibrox No 20 did the rest.
Rangers were transformed from that point. Goldson met Tavernier cross to head in th second after 61 minutes. Substitut Arfield saw a drive brilliantly save by Clark, while the increasingl impressive Aribo hit the bar with header. However, the remainin goals had to wait for a madca finale that started in the 87t minute.
Davis decided to channel hi inner McGregor with a pair o brilliant blocks. Having initiall thwarted Saints substitute Chri Kane, he pulled off an even bette stop with his heel to den Davidson’s follow-up. Ranger broke forward as Saints franticall
appealed that the ball had crossed the line — although TV pictures didn’t back that up in a conclusive way. Jack fed Defoe to score.
Another break then ended with Aribo playing in the veteran Englishman, who swivelled to tuck the ball into the corner of the net. He looked offside but, by then, the game was more than done.
ST JOHNSTONE (4-5-1): Clark 6; Ralston 6, Kerr 5, Gordon 5, Tanser 4; Kennedy 5 (Wright 60), Davidson 6, Wotherspoon 6 (Callachan 64), McCann 6 (Kane 84), O’Halloran 6; May 5. Subs not used: Parish, Duffy, Booth, Swanson.
Booked: Gordon. RANGERS (4-3-2-1): McGregor 7; Tavernier 7, Goldson 7, Helander 7, Barisic 7; Davis 8, Jack 7, Aribo 8; Ojo 7 (Stewart 84), Barker 5 (Arfield 62); Morelos 8 (Defoe 79).
Subs not used: Foderingham, Edmondson, Halliday, Kamara. Man of the match: Steven Davis. Referee: Andrew Dallas. Attendance: 6,251.