KENNY MILLER was the hero once again for Rangers as his goal on 78 minutes, his 50th for the club, proved enough to secure a valuable win against St. Johnstone at Ibrox.

On a day that Vladimir Weiss and £4million striker Nikica Jelavic made their home debuts it was the club's no. 9 that continued his impressive start to the 2010/11 season after Sasa Papac had cancelled out a Danny Grainger thunderbolt in the first half.

With Jelavic named on the bench, Weiss was given a starting slot on the left wing with Kyle Lafferty suspended.

And Lee McCulloch replaced Maurice Edu after serving a two-game ban that ruled him out of the club's recent games against Killie and Hibs.

Ibrox was again rocking prior to kick-off but, in truth, the opening 15 minutes of this encounter were flat although Rangers did have a couple of early chances.

With just two minutes on the clock Steven Whittaker was brought down 25 yards from goal and Papac's effort from the resulting free-kick was well held by former Ger Graeme Smith who dived to his left.

But under the guidance of Derek McInnes the visitors have plenty of grit and determination and just two minutes later Jody Morris showed his frustration at not hitting the target from 20 yards with a right foot effort.

At the other end Weiss showed flashes of his undoubted ability but a 20-yard shot from the Slovakian lacked the power to beat Smith.

Vlad then found acres of space on the left wing but after cutting inside he could not beat the Saints keeper with his near post shot.

The visitors suffered a blow on 16 minutes when Murray Davidson was stretchered off after a nasty collision involving Steven Davis and his teammate Marcus Haber who was proving a real handful in the opening stages.

Liam Caddis was the player that replaced the midfielder and on 24 minutes the Perth outfit got the scoring underway with a sensational goal.

Morris played a clever corner out to Grainger who blasted a left foot shot from 28 yards in to the top corner of Allan McGregor's net with the keeper barely moving.

At this stage Ibrox was stunned in to silence and when Papac was booked three minutes later for a challenge on Haber panic was starting to set in.

The Bosnian, however, settled more than a few nerves on 32 minutes when he equalised.

Weiss delivered a delightful cross to the back post and Naismith powered a header across goal.

Smith got his hand to the ball but it fell to Papac who forced it over the goal line from a tight angle to get his side back in this match.

Due to the injury to Davidson five minutes of injury time was played and Bougherra was inches away from getting his head to another excellent free-kick delivery from Weiss.

At ref Callum Murray's half-time whistle the Rangers players looked frustrated, and perhaps relieved, to be level going in to the break and Walter Smith would no doubt have demanded more from them for the second 45.

The gaffer decided to stick by the same eleven for the restart and immediately Rangers pegged their opponents back.

On 48 minutes Weiss picked the ball up on the left and he teed up McCulloch who drilled a right foot shot inches wide of target.

It was better stuff from Rangers but with an hour played and no change to the scoreline the introduction of Jelavic looked imminent.

On 63 minutes a shoulder knock took Naismith temporarily out of the game but the in-form Scotland star stayed on as his side looked for a second goal.

Rangers' first substitution came on 66 minutes and Jelavic received a terrific welcome from the home support.

And immediately the big Croatian was in the thick of things.

Naismith took up a central position and found Miller down the left.

His cross missed everyone in the six yard box but Jelavic kept the attack alive and his cross found Naisy who headed straight at Smith.

With 20 minutes left a bit of frustration was setting in and when Weiss was adjudged to have fouled a defender as he skipped in to the 18-yard box the winger picked up a yellow card for slamming the ball in to the turf.

With the tension building it was going to take something special from Rangers and it arrived from, who else, but Miller on 78 minutes.

Lee McCulloch played a perfect through ball to the electric hitman who looked up before curling a delightful finish past Smith with the outside of his right boot.

The goal could not have come at a better time and Walter Smith's men managed to hold on to clinch what could prove to be an important win come the end of this campaign.

The game once again showed the character in this Rangers side and St. Johnstone can also travel back to Perth with their heads held high after an impressive away display.