Saints rue missing two late opportunities

St Johnstone stuck rigidly to Tommy Wright’s game plan to bring a point home from Ibrox but he thought it could have been more.

The Perth men, who had deputy Cammy Bell in goal after first-choice Zander Clark got injured on the eve of the game, held on for a brilliant clean sheet.

Saints even came closest to winning as they forced two good saves from Wes Foderingham before Blair Alston saw a lob hit the bar with 11 minutes left.

“I’m happy with a point,” said Wright after watching his side end a run of five straight defeats.

“I think with the chances we had we could have edged it.

“I thought Blair’s chance was in all day. You thought it would drop in but it didn’t.

“On another day with a bit of luck it could have been three points.”

Meanwhile, Rangers manager Steven Gerrard has told his players they can forget about ripping the Premiership crown away from Celtic after their failure to fight off Saints.

They are now eight points behind Brendan Rodgers’ Hoops after a 0-0 home draw in which they appeared to have no idea how to cut open their visitors.

Gerrard bemoaned a lack of “leadership” among his side and appeared to confess the championship is now Celtic’s to lose.

“Right now forget titles and forget closing gaps, the reality is to perform like that across the board in front of 50,000, well there’s your evidence,” he said.

“You don’t need me to say this, that or the other.

“If you have a group of lads and they give you that when they’ve got the chance to close the gap to three points, when you have Aberdeen, Kilmarnock and the rest breathing down your neck, that’s not what’s required at Rangers when you’ve got the chance to close the gap. You’re miles away from it.”