St Mirren were edged out by Rangers at The SMiSA Stadium as Saints fell to a 1-0 defeat against the Ibrox side. Tuur Rommens' first-half goal was enough to secure the points for the Light Blues.
Craig McLeish took interim charge of the Buddies and made four changes with Richard King, Scott Tanser, Liam Donnelly and Jacob Devaney coming in from the start. Marcus Fraser, Declan John and Keanu Baccus all missed out through injury, while Jake Young dropped to the bench.
After the news that John and Baccus would be unavailable, the Buddies were dealt a further blow early in the game when Alex Gogic collided with Jayden Richardson forcing the latter to be substituted after suffering a nasty gash above his eye.
It was a pretty listless first half-an-hour with neither goalkeeper tested before the visitors opened the scoring on 31 minutes. Nico Raskin floated a ball to the back post where it evaded the Saints defence and found Rommens who knocked beyond Shamal George.
Saints failed to create any real clear cut chances in the opening 45. Our only real opportunity coming with less than two minutes to go until half-time when Dan Nlundulu got his head on a Killian Phillips cross, but it was easy for Jack Butland.
Rangers came close to adding a second 10 minutes after the restart when Raskin bulleted a header by the post after he met a James Tavernier free-kick. 'Gers skipper Tavernier then forced a wonderful save from George who turned the 20 yard curling effort by the post just before the hour mark. A minute later it was Saints' turn to try and carve out an opportunity. Miguel Freckleton went on a brilliant solo run down the right-hand side before finding Phillips. The Irishman laid it off for captain Mark O'Hara but his shot from the edge of the box was blocked.
Jonah Ayunga made his return from injury on 77 minutes, back in the fold after being sidelined through injury since December. But it was another substitute, Young, who would have the final opportunity to try and drag Saints back into the game. A long ball from George found the striker in behind Tavernier, but he skewed his effort well wide of target as the minutes ticked away.
Jonah Ayunga made his return from injury (Image: Allan Picken)
Rangers had the ball in the net for a second time in stoppage time only for the offside flag to deny Thelo Aasgaard. Ultimately, one was enough for Rangers who move to within three points of league leaders Hearts.
Full-Time: St Mirren 0-1 Rangers
St Mirren: George, King (Young 63), Gogic, Freckleton, Richardson (Campbell 18), Donnelly, Devaney, O'Hara (c), Tanser (Ayunga 77), Phillips, Nlundulu
Subs: Mullen, Tamosevicius, Falconer, Idowu, Calvin, Etete
Rangers: Butland, Tavernier (c), Djiga, Fernandez, Rommens (Meghoma 81), Raskin, Chukwuani (Barron 72), Gassama (Skov Olsen 58), Moore, Naderi (Miovski 81), Chermiti (Aasgaard 71)
Subs: Kelly, Souttar, Sterling, Antman
Referee: Steven McLean
AR1: Daniel McFarlane
AR2: Frank Connor
Fourth Official: Dan McFarlane
VAR: Chris Graham
