Rangers defeat St Johnstone to close gap on Celtic - VAR red card, crushing Kemar Roofe blow, Santa 'welcome here'

How Rangers’ 2-0 win over Saints unfolded at Ibrox as title race heats up

Cyriel Dessers celebrates opening the scoring for Rangers in the 2-0 win over St Johnstone at Ibrox. (Photo by Craig Foy / SNS Group)

A Christmas miracle could yet unfold before the big day on Monday.

Santa took time out from his labours in Lapland to parade the League Cup at half time with Rangers already halfway to delivering the gift of three points to their fans against St Johnstone, who had Diallang Jaiyesimi sent off after 33 minutes for serious foul play following a VAR review.

The Ibrox side could yet be top on Christmas Day. As it is, they are just two points behind Celtic with a game in hand. They will accept this situation gladly enough if it remains the status quo when the two meet at Celtic Park next week.

Santa parades the Viaplay Cup during half-time of Rangers' 2-0 win over St Johnstone at Ibrox. (Photo by Craig Foy / SNS Group)

This combined with a first League Cup win in a dozen years is more than anyone at Ibrox dared hope for just a few short weeks ago. It’s why Santa was booed at Celtic Park when he made an appearance there on Saturday, with the home team 2-0 down against Hearts. Such a reversal of fortunes had not been in the script, which meant even old Saint Nick got it in the neck. “You’re welcome here!” stressed the Ibrox Tannoy announcer.

Any hint of triumphalism following Sunday’s victory – and there wasn't much, to be fair, as Rangers quickly re-set their sights – was extinguished by a difficult start in which the hosts saw Kemar Roofe break down again.

It was a crushing blow for the striker, who was making his first start since October against St Mirren, as he lasted just 16 minutes. There had already been some concern when John Souttar, another player bedevilled by injury, went down after just two minutes but he suffered only a head injury, and returned to the pitch after a delay of several minutes.

Roofe’s departure was more sudden and came moments after his full-blooded shot had been blocked by Andrew Considine. There was some pre-match debate about whether Cyriel Dessers had been dropped or rested following his League Cup final exertions.

Either way, it was a short hiatus from first-team duty. He scampered on looking full of energy and needed only 12 minutes to give Rangers the lead after he stayed alert and displayed anticipation as Oludare Olufunwa failed to cut out James Tavernier’s cross. He also won the penalty after St Johnstone 'keeper Dimitar Mitov tarnished an excellent display by whipping the striker’s legs away. League Cup match-winner Tavernier did the usual from the spot with five minutes left and was then subbed by manager Philippe Clement for Leon King in a move seemingly designed to let the Rangers skipper feel the love of the crowd.

It was an unhappy return to Ibrox for Craig Levein, who was making his first visit to the ground since two days before he was sacked as Hearts manager in 2019.

He handed Fran Franczak a start at right wing-back. It’s a brave move to include a 16-year-old as one of 11 players against the home side at Ibrox. It’s braver still to keep him on when a red card shortly after the concession of a goal had placed a further onus on those remaining on the pitch. Franczak passed the test with flying colours in the 60 minutes he was given, with Levein pushing the teenager further up the pitch after Jaiyesimi had seen his yellow card upgraded to a red after a high challenge on John Lundstram. It was a silly challenge given the Rangers player was deep in his own half.