Agonising late defeat for Saints after strong Ibrox showing

Craig McLeish's men put in another strong performance, especially in the second-half, but came away from Ibrox with nothing to show for it after Bojan Miovski's injury-time goal saw Rangers pick up the points.

Saints were forced into one change from the side that were edged out by Celtic on Saturday. Louis Jackson came in for his debut in place of Paul Nsio who was unavailable for selection against his parent club.

Jacob Chapman was forced into the game's first save, blocking an effort from Ryan Naderi on six minutes. Nicolas Raskin picked the forward out and Chapman did well to close the angle and save with his feet.

Saints grew into the game after an early spell of Rangers pressure and created our first opportunity on 10 minutes. Chris Mochrie slid the ball into Declan John who got to the byline before sending a cross into the six-yard area. Olwethu Makhanya got his head on it but could only send it as far as Calvin Ramsay who volleyed over.

The home side took a grip on the match with Chapman forced into a number of stops to deny the opener. The Australian made a tremendous save to turn away a Raskin header on 17 minutes. A minute later the Buddies had Henry Fieldson to thank for keeping it level as he made a brilliant goal-saving challenge to stop Naderi turning home from close-range. Chapman made a big double save on 22 minutes with Djeidi Gassama seeing his effort pushed away before the stopper got up to deny Badredine Bouanani on the rebound.

Saints had a strong shout for a penalty when Kabia was fouled inside the area by Emmanuel Fernandez. The winger took a sore one on his left foot as he was caught by the studs of the Rangers defender yet the referee didn't award a spot-kick and no VAR check took place.

After riding out the first-half, Saints started the second-half well. Chris Mochrie worked his way into the box on 53 minutes before picking out Agrafiotis. With his back to goal, the forward laid it back to Ryan Carr who sent way over from 20 yards after not catching it right.

A foul on Kabia yielded a free-kick around 25 yards from goal just before the hour mark. It was a decent hit from Ramsay but just had slightly too much on it as it flew just over.

Saints should have been ahead on 66 minutes when Fraser Taylor was sent through on goal. The midfielder drove forward to go one-on-one added with Ivor Pandur but saw his shot blocked by the foot of the 'Gers goalkeeper.

The Buddies looked the more likely to score as the game wore on. Agrafiotis shot into the arms of Pandur on 73 minutes before substitute Jake Young was inches away from getting a toe on a fizzed low ball across the face from John.

But it was the home side who would snatch the three points as we headed into injury-time. Pandur's long kick was nodded on by Naderi who managed to flick on for Miovski. The striker lifted the ball over Chapman to grab the winner.

Full-Time: Rangers 1-0 St Mirren