RANGERS ended their Scottish Premiership campaign on a positive note with a commanding 3-0 victory over St. Mirren in Paisley this afternoon.
Fashion Jr. got the scoring underway midway through the first-half after latching onto a Ridvan Yilmaz pass, before the Zambian took his goal tally to 12 for the season with a fine strike shortly into the second period.
Colak then rounded off the scoring for the Ibrox side with 13 minutes remaining, nodding home from close range after Nicolas Raskin met Todd Cantwell’s corner.
Michael Beale named four changes to his Gers side for the trip to Paisley, restoring Robby McCrorie, Ryan Jack, Ianis Hagi and Rabbi Matondo to the starting lineup from the midweek clash with Hearts.
It was a lively start from the Light Blues on an afternoon where the sun only briefly threatened to creep through the clouds. Hagi, who netted his first goal upon his return from injury in the previous away outing last week in Edinburgh, troubled the St. Mirren defence with a wicked delivery across the face of goal which, unfortunately for those of a Rangers persuasion, failed to have any takers inside the penalty box.
Rabbi Matondo was next to go close for the away side with a cross-cum-shot that sailed wide of Peter Urminsky’s far post as the Buddies stopper scrambled to gain his bearings.
Rangers were certainly monopolising possession in the early exchanges as the forward line interchanged fluidly. The intensity off the ball was also evident as Fashion Jr. robbed possession from Lewis Jamieson in the centre of the pitch before striding forward menacing towards the St. Mirren goal, although he could not keep his resulting effort under the crossbar.
However, it didn’t take the Zambian long to get himself on the scoresheet for the third time in his last four games since the league split as he fired the visitors ahead on 24 minutes. The architect was Ridvan Yilmaz from a pocket of space on the left-hand side, threading a gorgeous pass through to Fashion Jr. who left substitute Marcus Fraser in his wake. Lifting his head, the 26-year-old cut into the penalty area and saw his shot creep over the goalline despite Scott Tanser’s best last-ditch efforts.
It took until just shy of the half-hour mark for St. Mirren to fashion their first attempt in anger as McCrorie held Mark O’Hara’s header with relative comfort.
The pace and energy in the Gers forward line was causing the hosts issues aplenty. Matondo tested his luck from distance after breaking through the heart of the St. Mirren midfield moments later, while Fashion Jr. was inches away from beating Urminsky for the second time in the afternoon after chopping inside and firing a low, driven effort that looked destined for the bottom near corner.
The Zambian continued to wreak havoc on the Buddies backline, requiring just two minutes in the second half to double both his and Rangers’ tally on the afternoon. It was vintage Fashion Jr. in many respects, dribbling menacingly in off the left-hand side before firing an unstoppable effort under Urminsky in the hosts’ goal.
Although the second goal seemed to zap what remained of the energy within the St. Mirren side, they briefly threatened on the hour-mark when substitutes Greg Kiltie and Kieran Offord combined, requiring John Lundstram to recover quickly and stifle the danger inside the penalty area.
A hat-trick was on the cards for Fashion Jr., and his eyes lit up on 65 minutes when he received a Cantwell pass with space to drive into; however, he could not work the ball out from under his feet as St. Mirren recovered possession.
James Tavernier was then forced to header over his own crossbar as Curtis Main lurked to connect with a cross from the right for the home side.
That was to prove the last action of the afternoon for the Gers captain, who was replaced alongside two-goal hero Fashion Jr., Hagi and Ridvan Yilmaz as Scott Arfield took his final bow in a Rangers jersey.
And it was one of the substitutes, Colak, who put the icing on the cake for Rangers in Paisley. A floated corner from Cantwell was flicked on at the front post from Raskin, allowing the Croatian to sneak in at the far post and nod beyond Urminsky from close range to seal a well-deserved victory on the final day for the Gers.
Arfield and Allan McGregor were then greeted by the away support for the final time in their Gers careers at full-time as the curtain came down for the 2022/23 campaign.
ST. MIRREN: Urminsky, Tanser, Shaughnessy, Taylor (Dunne, 70), O’Hara, Main, Boyd-Munce (Kiltie, 59), Baccus, Strain (Fraser, 7; Tait, 70), Jamieson (Offord, 59), Gallagher
SUBS NOT USED: Carson, Gogic, Taylor, Kenny
RANGERS: McCrorie, Tavernier (Devine, 67), Lundstram, Souttar, Ridvan (Barisic, 67), Jack, Raskin, Cantwell, Hagi (Arfield, 67), Matondo (King, 76), Fashion Jr. (Colak, 67)
SUBS NOT USED: McGregor, Wright, Lowry, Rice
REFEREE: Matthew MacDermid