Saints defeated by Rangers at the Marbill Coaches Stadium

Craig McLeish made five changes from the side that lost to Motherwell last week. Declan John, Louis Jackson, Samuel Ramos, Ismeal Kabia and Jake Young came in from the start with Ryan Carr and Paul Nsio unavailable and Henry Fieldson, Luke Thomas and Eseosa Sule dropping to the bench.

The visitors could have taken the lead on 12 minutes when the ball fell for Naderi. The forward, unmarked in the area, looked prime to put Rangers in front only for Jacob Chapman to pull off a big stop.

Naderi did put the away side ahead six minutes later after a dubious penalty call. James Penrice went down under minimal contact from Ramos. Ramos pleaded his innocence and there was a VAR check, but referee Nick Walsh's original decision stood and Naderi rolled home from 12 yards.

Saints reacted well to the setback but took until 37 minutes before they registered any opportunity of note. A nice reverse pass from Kabia found Ramos whose strike was held by Ivor Pandur.

The Buddies came close nine minutes into the second-half when a low ball across the face from Killian Phillips found Young. But the striker was quickly crowded out by two Rangers defender and goalkeeper Pandur who managed to gather up the ball.

The visiting side added a second just after the hour mark. Kevin Kelsy tried to find Naderi, but his attempted pass was cut out by Calvin Ramsay. It fell to Neil who struck and found the net via the aid of a deflection off Declan John.

Craig McLeish made three substitutions a few minutes later, introducing Liam Donnelly, Thomas and Sule for Fraser Taylor, Ramos and Young. Saints then had two good opportunities in the space of a minute after the substitutes. The first saw Kabia pick out John, but the defender put too much on the strike as it flew over the bar. The second saw John's brilliant delivery pick out Sule sliding in but Pandur got two hands behind the effort to turn away.

Chapman was called into action on 72 minutes to keep the score to two. He made an outstanding save to deny Nicolas Raskin. A minute later it was Saints who came close when substitute Thomas was allowed to drive forward through the heart of the Rangers defence but saw his shot beaten away by Pandur. It went only as far as Ramsay who agonisingly sent his follow-up header wide.

Saints huffed and puffed but ultimately couldn't find a way through to goal to set up a tense finale at the Marbill Coaches Stadium.

Full-Time: St Mirren 0-2 Rangers