far-from-impressive 1-0 win over St. Mirren at Love
Street, Paisley this afternoon thanks to an early
Nacho Novo goal - but to be blunt this was a truly
awful game with little skill or cohesion from either
side.
The win now leaves Rangers eight points clear of
Aberdeen with five games remaining.
There were huge gaps in the home support with the
effects of live television and Easter Sunday obviously
proving to be strong counter-attractions.
Defender Kirk Broadfoot, a future Rangers player, was
included in the home side, whilst Ibrox Manager Walter
Smith made two changes from the Inverness Caldonian
Thistle debacle with Ugo Ehiogu and Chris Burke
replacing Ian Murray and Dado Prso.
St. Mirren, who have not won since Boxing Day, went
into this game under considerable pressure with the
gap at the foot of the table having been reduced to
just four points courtesy of Dunfermline Athletic's
1-0 win over Hibernian yesterday.
The 'Buddies' could scarcely have made a worse start
as Nacho Novo opened the scoring in three minutes when
he rifled home the loose ball after Charlie Adam's
harmless looping cross, missed by Kris Boyd, saw home
goalkeeper Chris Smith collide with Broadfoot, the
loose ball being easy prey for the Spanish striker.
Saints were not downcast however - Ian Maxwell forcing
Allan McGregor into a full-length diving save with a
header from a Richard Brittain free-kick.
The game soon lapsed into a turgid affair, with
neither side capable of creating an opening worthy of
note until the half-hour mark when Boyd really should
have made it two when Broadfoot's back-header fell
short, the striker skying the ball over the bar.
Four minutes later Boyd once again was the sinner when
his weak shot from a Chris Burke lay-off was easily
held by Smith.
The home side almost levelled the scores on the cusp
of the interval - firstly when David van Zanten's
eighteen-yard shot whistled inches wide, then
Broadfoot headed just over from a Van Zanten
free-kick.
Rangers' lacklustre display had given the Paisley side
every encouragement - and when seven minutes after the
restart Broadfoot forced his way forward Stewart
Kean's 25-yard effort flashed wide.
Boyd had the ball in the net in 55 minutes with a
volley from a Charlie Adam free-kick only for the goal
to be disallowed for offfside.
Dado Prso replaced Burke nine minutes later, but even
the Croatian could not lift his team, although he
should probably have done better in 74 minutes when he
broke through on a solo run only for hesitancy to
prove fatal.
Boyd tested Smith with a snap-shot in 81 minutes which
the goalkeeper comfortably held, but two minutes later
St. Mirren had a rare foray into Light Blue territory
when Billy Mehmet forced his way through the centre of
defence only to shoot over.
Kevin Thomson replaced Boyd in the dying seconds as
Rangers comfortably played out time - but this had
been a quite dreadful ninety minutes.
Afterwards Walter Smith reflected:
"It was a difficult game, although I was pleased with
the start. We scored early, but didn't build on it. I
was impressed by our back four. We are now eight
points clear of Aberdeen."
Veteran defender David Weir, who has impressed so much
since arriving at Ibrox in January, provided a
much-needed boost when he expressed his willingness to
extend his contract beyond the summer.
ST. MIRREN Smith; Van Zanten, Potter, Broadfoot,
Maxwell (Malone 16); Brittain (Corcoran 61), Brady,
Murray, Kean, Reid (Mehmet 74); Sutton
UNUSED SUBS Hinchcliffe, McCay, McGinn, Lawson
RANGERS McGregor; Hutton, Ehiogu, Weir, Papac; Burke
(Prso 64), Ferguson, Hemdani, Adam; Novo, Boyd
(Thomson 90)
UNUSED SUBS Klos, Svensson, Rae, Lennon, Shinnie
REFEREE Charlie Richmond
Attendance 7,308