RANGERS fell to defeat in the Scottish Premiership as St. Johnstone ran out 2-1 winners at McDiarmid Park this afternoon.
The Light Blues dominated the early proceedings, but they fell behind against the run of play when James Brown lashed his side ahead from distance.
Nicky Clark doubled the Perth side’s advantage midway through the second period and, despite a well-taken strike from James Tavernier hauling Rangers back into the contest, they were unable to complete the comeback.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst named two changes to his Gers side for the trip to Perth as John Lundstram and Ben Davies returned to the starting lineup from midweek.
There was early encouragement for Rangers inside a minute when Malik Tillman profited from a break of the ball in midfield before striding forward and freeing Ryan Kent on the left-hand side, with the winger’s resulting effort being deflected out for a corner by Andrew Considine.
Tillman was at the heart of the action again on five minutes, sneaking around to the far post from a James Tavernier delivery and drawing an unorthodox stop from Elliott Parish.
The Light Blues had their tails up in the opening exchanges and it was Lundstram who tested Parish with a near post effort this time after terrific hold-up play from Antonio Colak. From the resulting corner, Fashion Jr. had a goalbound header blocked en route by Nicky Clark.
The Zambian was proven a handful for the Perth side to deal with from corners as he rattled the crossbar with a looping header minutes later.
The home side were finding it difficult to deal with Rangers’ intensity, with Tavernier curling wide from a narrow angle on the edge of the penalty area after being teed up by Fashion Jr.
However, St. Johnstone struck against the run of play five minutes before the interval. The Gers did well to block Stevie May’s initial effort before the ball broke to James Brown on the right-hand side who lashed an unstoppable finish beyond Allan McGregor from 25 yards out.
The Light Blues immediately went in search of a leveller following the restart, with Considine forced to intercept a dangerous pass from Colak towards Lundstram inside the danger area.
Kent curled a dangerous effort into the hands of Parish after ghosting in from the left minutes later, before Fashion Jr. shot off target from the opposite flank as the Light Blues turned up the pressure.
Alfredo Morelos and Scott Arfield were introduced on the hour mark, but Rangers fell behind further as St. Johnstone doubled their advantage in the 62nd minute.
Stevie May lashed a dangerous cross in from the byline where Clark stole a half yard inside the penalty area and flicked his finish off the underside of the crossbar and over the line.
Fashion Jr. flashed a ball across the face of goal as Rangers looked for an immediate riposte, but there were no takers inside the penalty area of a Gers persuasion.
Lundstram went agonisingly close to reducing the deficit on 69 minutes. Tavernier did well to work the ball inside as it fell generously into the midfielder’s path, although his curling left-footed finish trickled wide of the post.
It wasn’t long until Rangers hauled themselves back into the contest. St. Johnstone cleared a corner only to the edge of the penalty area where Tavernier strode onto the ball and fired a thunderous effort that Parish was unable to stop.
The crossbar was rattled minutes later as Lundstram’s speculative effort from distance required a fingertip save from Parish, with Tavernier’s header connecting with the frame of the goal in the next sequence of play.
Fashion Jr. took aim on his left side with nine minutes remaining, but he could not control his strike and it sailed wide of the St. Johnstone goal.
Lundstram lofted a delivery into the danger area in stoppage time that narrowly evaded Colak, bringing an end to the game in Perth.
ST. JOHNSTONE: Parish, Brown, Considine, Mitchell, McGowan, Montgomery, Hallberg, Wotherspoon (Wright, 76), Carey (Phillips, 90), May (McLennan, 76), Clark (Bair, 90).
Subs not used: Sinclair, Crawford, Gallacher, Kucheriavyi, Murphy.
RANGERS: McGregor, Tavernier, King, Davies (Arfield, 60), Barisic, Sands (Kamara, 76), Lundstram, Tillman (Morelos, 60), Fashion Jr. (Wright, 83), Colak, Kent (Matondo, 79).
Subs not used: McLaughlin, Davis, McCann, Yfeko.
REFEREE: Steven McLean