RANGERS were in impressive form once again in the Scottish Premiership tonight to defeat St Johnstone 2-0 at Ibrox.
Goals in either half from Alfredo Morelos and Ryan Kent doesn’t really tell the full story of another excellent performance from the home side which was full of flair and attacking endeavour throughout, while that ‘zero’ spoken about so often by Giovanni van Bronckhorst was again kept intact.
Boss van Bronckhorst named one change to his side tonight - from the team which impressively came through 2-0 against Hearts at Tynecastle on Sunday, Ianis Hagi replaced Fashion Jr.
That meant it was the same back five of Allan McGregor in goal with James Tavernier, Connor Goldson, Calvin Bassey and Borna Barisic in front of him.
Glen Kamara was joined in midfield by Joe Aribo and Scott Arfield, while Kent and Hagi provided support to Morelos.
Gers were first to threaten after just three minutes. Aribo took a lovely touch in the middle of the park to take the ball in his stride, and he spotted the forward run of midfield partner Arfield.
The Canadian internationalist then got the ball left for Kent to step inside the area and force a decent stop from Zander Clark.
Clark was to deny Kent again five minutes later as he turned Shaun Rooney inside out, while Liam Gordon made a super challenge on Hagi in the six-yard box to prevent him poking home a Kent delivery.
Aribo was then given space from 25-yards to curl a fierce, curling drive off the junction of post and bar, while Goldson skewed a header off-target from a tempting Tavernier free-kick delivery and then Kent was denied again at Clark’s near post when the winger danced a route into the area.
Rooney was the next to deny Kent in the six-yard area when he looked to get on the end of an Aribo cross, and then Morelos delayed just for a second when put in for a shot by Kamara, thus allowing James Brown to nip in with a tackle.
It was chance after chance for the Light Blues, and eventually, they got the breakthrough on 43 minutes.
From Borna Barisic’s corner, Connor Goldson got the initial contact in the area, and sweeping up, unmarked at the back post, was that man Alfredo Morelos to glance home his fifth goal in his last six matches, and his 12th of the season overall.
It was the very least the home side deserved for a dominant first-half, which was full of superb movement in attack and a real energy and desire from the whole team.
Into the second half, and it was one-way traffic once again. Hagi was denied firstly by a last-ditch block from Gordon, while Morelos was denied from close-range by Clark.
The pressure was relentless, however, and Ryan Kent grabbed a deserved goal on 50 minutes on the end of a wonderful Rangers move.
From midfield, Aribo flicked on beautifully to send Morelos scampering away down the right.
As he entered the area from that right channel, he could perhaps have been forgiven for taking on a shot from the acute angle, but instead, he lifted his head and picked out the incoming Kent at the back post to sweep home beyond Clark and into the back of the net.
The football on show from the home side really was terrific, and Arfield was next to test Clark, before on 65 minutes, Saints threatened for the first time on the night, with Jacob Butterfield heading well over the bar at the back post.
Clark then saved well with his feet from Hagi with Morelos again the provider, before Jamie McCart was there with a super block to stop Hagi netting from the edge of the area.
Just after that block, Aribo was responsible for an outrageous piece of control, from almost a straight jump, he stuck out his left foot to bring the ball out of the air before dancing one way and then the other to drift away from Ali Crawford.
It was quite sensational from the Nigerian international who would go on to be named ‘Man of the Match’, and if you’ve not seen it yet, it’s certain to be played over and over in the coming days.
So 2-0 is how it finished, with Dundee United next up for Gers at Ibrox on Saturday.
RANGERS: McGregor, Tavernier, Goldson, Bassey, Barisic (Patterson, 79), Kamara, Aribo, Arfield, Hagi, Kent (Fashion Jr, 68), Morelos.
SUBS NOT USED: McLaughlin, Simpson, Bacuna, Wright.
ST JOHNSTONE: Clark, Brown, Gordon, Devine, McCart, Craig, Butterfield (Bryson, 79), O’Halloran (Solomon-Otobor, 68), Vertainen, Crawford, Rooney.
SUBS NOT USED: Parish, Dendoncker, Booth, May, Muller.
REFEREE: Euan Anderson
ATTENDANCE: 47,561
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