St Johnstone 1 - 2 Rangers: Nikica Jelavic shows his worth

In trying to find a replacement for the Croatian, McCoist is looking for a guy who can convert 100 per cent of the chances that come his way, as Jelavic did here, who has the positional sense, or plain good luck, to be in the right place at the right time to tap in two goals from the only two decent sniffs he had all afternoon. It’s a gift that Jelavic has. He hardly had a kick in this game and still he settled it.

The winner? Well, you really wondered if Rangers had it in them after Jelavic’s first goal was cancelled out by a Carlos Bocanegra own goal midway through the second half. But, lo, it arrived – and in the weirdest circumstances; a Sone Aluko free-kick headed – thundered, more like – at his own goalkeeper by a confused and contorted Murray Davidson. Peter Enckelman performed heroics in tipping this footballing grenade on to his crossbar but when it came back down, Jelavic tapped it away and put a smile of relief on his manager’s face as opposed to the look of horror he wore beforehand.

Rangers deserved the win. They had more of the ball, more of the chances and earned their victory, but none of this takes away from the fact that they are side lacking in creativity, apart from the bubbly Aluko and, at times, Steven Davis. And if Jelavic leaves? You fear for them, you really do.

The backdrop to all of this, of course, was the on-going row over Francisco Sandaza and his proposed move to Ibrox. That spilled over in the aftermath as well. Sandaza was quiet enough in the game, but still there was a tension in the air between these clubs. There were small pockets of aggro on the pitch, some hefty tackles going on, some lusty collisions.

And then there was the sight of McCoist and Steve Lomas and their verbal jousting on the touchline.

The other day, McCoist played down the suggestion that there was any problem between himself and Lomas over the Sandaza affair. How is your relationship with the St Johnstone manager, he was asked. “First class,” said McCoist. Frankly, it didn’t look it when, around the half-hour mark, the pair of them appeared to be hollering and gesticulating at each other over something or other, their ire visible for all to see, their spat broken up only when the fourth official stepped between them and presumably told them to pipe down.

This wasn’t a great game of football, but it was edgy, no doubt about it. And it would have been edgier still, for Rangers at any rate, had an early St Johnstone goal been allowed to stand.

There were only 13 minutes on the clock when Sandaza’s pass found Marcus Haber, who promptly stuck his shot past Neil Alexander, stand-in for the injured Allan McGregor, but the linesman’s flag went up, albeit belatedly.

Rangers pretty much took control of it for a long period and should have gone ahead when a crisp piece of play between Maurice Edu and Davis put David Healy through with only Enckelman to beat. The striker, with two goals in his last two games but more than double those numbers in missed opportunities, pulled his shot wide of Enckelman’s left-hand post.

Midway through the half, though, Rangers got their goal and with it came the beginnings of the verbals on the sideline.

The whole thing began with a Davis free-kick that was taken about five yards away from where the offence was committed in the first place. St Johnstone were livid but they were hardly without blame themselves in the way they defended in the seconds that followed. Aluko was allowed to fire on goal, but his shot spun off Dave McKay and found its way to Jelavic who poked home the opening goal.

There were protests. A group of St Johnstone players went to Thomson and remonstrated with him. Jody Morris got booked in the process. Saints looked decidedly second-best at this point and would have fallen further behind was it not for a goal-line clearance from David Robertson from a Doran Goian header. Robertson did wonderfully to keep his team in the match, his intervention only growing in significance when the equaliser, much like the booming cross that preceded it, simply dropped out of the sky.

Away on the left touchline, Liam Craig put a hanging delivery into the Rangers box. His cross carried to the back post where Haber nutted it toward goal only for Carlos Bocanegra to turn it past his own goalkeeper.

The respite came late for Rangers, but at least it came.

McCoist will take comfort from the win, while at the same time mopping his brow at the thought of what might have been had Davidson not lost his bearings and, in the process, gifted the win to a very needy Rangers.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Sone Aluko (Rangers)

Bright and breezy, he was the only real creative force for Rangers.

TALKING POINT: Rangers’ opener and the free-kick taken from the wrong spot.

Referee: C Thomson. Attendance: 6,577