Andrew Dickson reports from Ibrox

LEE McCULLOCH admits he couldn't have timed his goals any better as he inspired Rangers to a 3-1 win over St Mirren this afternoon.

The Light Blues fell behind on the half-hour mark when Graham Carey's free kick flew past Allan McGregor to give the Buddies an unlikely lead.

But McCulloch restored parity just two minutes later and then put the hosts in front seconds into the second half before Nacho Novo's clincher.

The Ibrox side's victory moves them 13 points clear of Celtic in the championship race and just seven more wins will lead to them retaining the title.

McCulloch, who has now netted seven times this season, said: "It was a sloppy start from us. St Mirren sat in and had the bulk of possession. We never penetrated them.

"We were just playing about with the ball without any purpose and then they scored a great goal after a dubious foul.

"We had to fight hard to come back into the game and the timing of our goals helped us a lot.

"We managed to level within a couple of minutes of their goal and got another one right after half time, when we had to get at them.

"It was good that wee Nacho came on to get a goal and kill it too. There wasn't really a half-time rant from the manager or anything but we knew we had to step it up.

"It was a case of continuing to do what we were doing, getting the ball moving quicker and hoping the goals would come. Thankfully they did and it's a big three points for us."