Ricksen scored his first ever goal for the club since arriving at Ibrox in the summer from AZ Alkmaar as Rangers recorded a crucial 3-0 win at home to St Johnstone.
Neil McCann was also on target with the opener in a game Dick Advocaat – who watched £12 million man Tore Andre Flo come on and score in the latter part of the match – knew his side had to win.
It was one in and one out for Advocaat who welcomed Arthur Numan back from suspension but had to do without Jorg Albertz following his red card against Hibs on Saturday.
And while Sergio Porrini made way for Numan it was Turkish midfield dynamo Tugay Kerimoglu who was introduced to the starting line-up in place of Albertz.
With a rock-hard pitch and freezing temperatures it wasn’t the ideal conditions for a game of football which might go some way to explaining why the game started so slowly.
But it was Rangers who went closes to breaking the deadlock in the ninth minute when the weekend scoring hero Ronald de Boer rifled in a shot from about 20 yards out which Alan Main took two attempts to clear.
St Johstone, however, went even closer to opening the scoring 11 minutes later when central defender Darren Dods scraped the top of Stefan Klos’ crossbar with a header from a Mohammed Sylla corner from the left.
The Light Blues were finding it extremely difficult to break down St Johnstone’s defence with their young central half Stuart McCluskey particularly impressive at the heart of the rearguard.
And in the 27th minute McCluskey was alert to clear a cross from Numan off the line but his header went only as far as Claudio Reyna on the edge of the box and Main pulled off an outstanding stop from the American’s powerful shot.
Advocaat obviously wasn’t happy with what he was seeing and 60 seconds later he introduced Kenny Miller at the expense of Michael Mols who headed straight up the tunnel when he left the field of play.
And three minutes later Rangers took the lead through man of the moment McCann. Reyna whipped a cross into the box, Miller helped it on to his international team-mate McCann who fired home from about 10 yards out.
Then in the 54th minute the Light Blues doubled their lead thanks to Ricksen’s first ever goal for the club. It was almost a carbon copy of the first goal but this time it was McCann who was the provider with a great cross and Miller again nodded on to Ricksen who was waiting to blast home.
Allan Johnston replaced McCann in the 72nd minute and he made an impact almost immediately when his cross was met by the head of Miller but the striker watched in frustration as it rebounded off the post.
But Rangers’ bid for another goal wasn’t to end there – or Johnston’s for that matter – as he provided the cross for Flo to nod home from close range three minutes from time which completed the rout for Advocaat’s men.
RANGERS: Klos, Ricksen, Amoruso, Numan, Konterman, Reyna, Ferguson, De Boer (Flo 65), Tugay, Mols (Miller 28), McCann (Johnston 72) Subs (not used): Christiansen, Ross
ST JOHNSTONE: Main, Dods, Bollan, Weir, Lovenkrands (Forsyth 80), Kane (Dasovic 45), Sylla, McCluskey (McCulloch 59), McBride, Parker, O’Neill Subs (not used): Cuthbert, Connolly
Scorers: Rangers – McCann (31), Ricksen (54), Flo (87)