Sport
St Johnstone 0-1 Rangers: Jason Holt scores own goal to give Gers much-needed away win in Scottish Premiership
Rangers secured a narrow but comfortable 1-0 win over St Johnstone to end their poor run in the Scottish Premiership.
Amid ongoing speculation over Philippe Clement's future, the Light Blues traveled to Perth on Thursday evening after a stunning 4-1 Europa League victory in Nice, taking them one step closer to the knockout stages.
However, Rangers reverted to a dour style of football that characterized their league season, with their winner coming in the 63rd minute of an improved second half via an own goal from former Gers midfielder Jason Holt, earning their first away win in the league since September .
Clement's side remain in third place, 11 points behind leaders Celtic, with their title hopes still looking threadbare and Gers fans remaining amazed by the Jekyll and Hyde nature of this season.
The Belgian boss is still looking for consistency in performance and consistency in selection. Brazilian forward Danilo, who was not in the Gers' European squad, was available again, meaning Clement had three options for the sole striker role.
Moroccan striker Hamza Igamane, who scored a double against Nice, got the nod over Danilo and regular striker Cyriel Dessers.
Romanian midfielder Ianis Hagi, also absent from the European squad, made his first Rangers start since May 2023, while captain James Tavernier came on for the injured Dujon Sterling.
Saints were unchanged from the side that started last week's 1-0 win over Kilmarnock and for the most part they contained the visitors in the first half.
In the 15th minute, Gers winger Vaclav Cerny completed a neat move when he cut in from the right and drilled just wide of the goal from the edge of the penalty area.
Less than 10 minutes later, as the Ibrox side upped the tempo, Saints keeper Josh Rae dived to his left to push Igamane's low drive wide of goal, after the Gers striker had been set up by Connor Barron.
Gers winger Nedim Bajrami failed to connect properly after a Tavernier cut-back before his drive after a cleared corner was saved by Rae at his near post.
Bajrami and defender Robin Propper made way for Ridvan Yilmaz and Leon Balogun at the start of the second half, while midfielder Aaron Essel replaced Graham Carey for the home side.
Rae had little to do in the second half before the 55th minute when he made a decent save from Tavernier's 25-yard free-kick.
Danilo then replaced left back Jefte as Clement reshuffled his side and they were soon ahead.
With Saints back in their own penalty area, when Hagi's cross from the left went over Rae's head and the hapless Holt could only turn the ball into his own net on the goal line under pressure from Tavernier, who would have scored.
Rae made saves from Danilo and Hagi as Rangers controlled possession and the Saints keeper thwarted Danilo twice more as the visitors dominated the latter stages.
'Rangers are a cool watch'
Sky Sports' Kris Boyd:
“Philippe Clement will be happy to get the three points, but if he is happy with the performance then wow.
“Rangers are a tough guard at the moment, but you can't whine all the time. They have the three points, that's the most important thing.”
Sky Sports' Chris Sutton:
“It's three points today, a result of a brilliant win this week. Rangers are not fluent in the final third, but in terms of result this is the most comfortable 1-0 you will ever see.”
