And with title rivals Celtic narrowly securing a win over Motherwell just before kick off at Ibrox it was vital Rangers responded in the right manner ahead of Tuesday’s trip to Tannadice.
Walter Smith made four changes to the side that slipped to a narrow defeat in Spain in midweek with Kris Boyd overcoming his injury problems to resume up front.
Also back from injury was Kirk Broadfoot, making his first appearance in nine months.
But Allan McGregor succumbed to a hamstring injury and was replaced in goal by Neil Alexander, with Nacho Novo the other new starter, taking Stevie Smith’s place in midfield.
With a five point gap opened up by Celtic’s Fir Park victory Smith would be looking for a quick response from his refreshed side.
And as they had done already this season Rangers scored in the opening minute, and just as it had been against St Mirren it was Boyd who broke the deadlock.
Beasley collected a stray pass on the Rangers right and found Boyd in acres of space on the edge of the box.
Quite why the visitors chose to leave the SPL’s top marksman unattended in the opening minute is a question their manager will no doubt have asked at the interval.
But Boyd made no such enquiry, simply turning on the 18 yard line and curling a left foot shot past his former Ibrox team mate Graeme Smith and in to the bottom corner of the net.
As Boyd celebrated there were only 30 seconds on the clock behind the goal he had just found.
It wasn’t the first time that Walter Smith’s side had taken a quick lead this season but they showed no signs of the slackness that had affected previous early advantages.
Indeed with just eight minutes on the clock Kenny Miller called Saints keeper Smith in to action again when he collected Madjid Bougherra’s lofted ball and turned to fire toward the top corner.
Smith did enough to force the ball behind and the resulting corner was wasted by Novo.
And the little Spaniard was the man who would hand the Saints their first chance to test Alexander when he controlled the visitors’ corner on the edge of his own box, only to lose possession to Chris Millar.
The midfielder fired in a fine shot from 20 yards but Alexander was sharply off to his right to turn the ball behind for another corner.
That was the only real test McGregor’s replacement faced in the opening half as Saints showed why they have the division’s poorest defensive record.
There was plenty of entertainment for the supporters at Ibrox but Derek McInnes’ side do themselves no favours with how openly they play.
Rangers could and possibly should have gone in at half time further ahead with both full backs among the players who might have added to the scoreline.
The returning Broadfoot headed over when it looked easier to score after 19 minutes and four minutes later his left sided colleague Sasa Papac had a shot turned behind when he latched on to Boyd’s knockdown on the six yard box.
The Gers were knocking on the door and when Novo broke free of the Saints defence they had the chance to add to their lead.
Smith rushed from his line to clear, but Novo nicked the ball away from the keeper and earned a penalty from which Boyd made no mistake.
There were still 18 minutes of the half remaining but it took until the final moments of the first 45 for Rangers to come close again.
Miller did well down the left with a minute to go before the interval, only for Boyd to turn his cutback straight at Smith.
And although Boyd had the ball in the net in the final minute of the half he was judged to be offside when Miller played him through.
That left Ally McCoist furious on the touchline, clearly feeling Miller should have opted to turn the ball in the opposite direction for the advancing Papac.
However the Gers Assistant Manager would have been delighted with how his side started the second half.
They capitalised on another Saints error as the ball broke to Beasley on the right and he swept an early cross to Miller.
The Scotland man’s effort was blocked by Smith but Novo was following up to bullet in to the net and effectively end the game as a contest.
Novo almost added a little more gloss on 64 minutes when he fired in from the edge of the box, beating Smith but seeing his effort come back off the base of the post.
Rangers were clearly in the mood to add to their goal difference and Beasley was the next to go looking for a fourth.
He gave Danny Grainger a torrid time on the Gers’ right and cut in to the box to fire a left foot shot that looked bound for the top corner until Smith pushed it wide.
From the resulting corner Beasley somehow managed to skew his effort behind all the Rangers players and almost back to his own half.
That proved to be his last involvement as he was quickly replaced by John Fleck after arguably his best display for Rangers in quite some time.
With 10 minutes to go Fleck had the chance to get his first league goal of the season when he collected Boyd’s pass after the No.9 was picked out by sub Kyle Lafferty.
But the 18 year old fired high over the bar from 15 yards, to the frustration of his fellow forwards.
It was ultimately unimportant though and Rangers will no travel to Tannadice knowing victory over Dundee Utd will take them back to the top of the SPL.