Yet another double, no trouble, as Gers’ Colak strikes twice
RANGERS 4
Colak (4, 73), Tavernier (pen, 30), Sakala (90)
ST MIRREN 0
Antonio Colak gave Rangers victory at the double for the third league match in a row.
The Croatian striker will surely get the nod to face Liverpool in the Champions League at Ibrox on Wednesday night.
He started last Tuesday’s defeat at Anfield on the bench but hit a brace yesterday after being restored to the starting line-up
That followed doubles against Dundee United and Hearts. He now has 13 goals in 16 matches.
And while Rangers boss Giovanni van Bronkhorst didn’t confirm that Colak will lead the line against the men from Merseyside, he was purring about the performance of his forward.
He said: “I am very happy with his performances and all he has to do now is continue that.
“A lot of players showed with their performances that they want to play on Wednesday.
“We showed our intention right from the start and we wanted to get the first goal of the game.
“We started really well and got that goal from Antonio, followed by a penalty.
“The second half was even better as we dominated more and kept possession better.
“We kept our energy right until the end of the game and managed to get another two goals.
“It was a very positive outcome.” Colak’s selection was one of five changes from the Rangers team that started against Liverpool.
It had to be a strong home line-up because Saints arrived at Ibrox in fine fettle and were looking for a third consecutive Premiership victory.
The visitors battled from start to finish, but there was an air of inevitability about
the outcome as soon as Colak opened the scoring.
St Mirren didn’t close Barisic down quickly enough and the Croatian saw his shot from outside the box crash off the base of the goalie’s left-hand post.
It bounced straight to fellow countryman Antonio Colak and he hit the net for the 12th time this season.
You could say he was fortunate with the way the ball fell, but the 29-year-old is always on the move in the box and has an eye for goal that’s hard to coach.
His showing meant that Alfredo Morelos had again to be content with a short cameo appearance late in the game.
Rangers’ second goal was a penalty kick converted by Tavernier after the referee ruled that Colak, almost inevitably, had been fouled by Gallagher.
Colak’s second came after a forceful run by Fashion Sakala.
The Zambian slipped the ball to his colleague and he slotted home with the greatest of ease after gliding past Declan Gallagher.
Sakala got more involved as the game went on and showed that it’s maybe too early to write him off as a Rangers player.
He gave a disciplined performance on the wing that kept the Buddies from committing too many players forward.
His afternoon was rounded off by running on to a Morelos pass and scoring from close range in added-on time.
There were a few moments of danger around the home goal during the 90 minutes but Saints always found Allan Mcgregor up to the task of keeping them out.
Marcus Fraser will kick himself for not doing better with a free header in the first half and giving the keeper a comfortable save.
O’hara was through on goal in the second half but the veteran goalie was sharp to dive at his feet.
St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson was encouraged by his side creating those chances.
He said: “It might sound daft to say it wasn’t a 4-0, but at key moments the game went against us.
“From middle to front I thought there was a lot of really good aspects of play.
“Games at Ibrox are not going to define what we do this season but we came thinking we could have got something.
“There are a lot of disappointed boys, so that’s good. We have raised the belief.”