Rangers 0 - 0 St Johnstone: Gers draw second consecutive blank without Morelos

Rangers' Jermain Defoe has a chance to score in the first half. Pic: SNS/Rob Casey

Against a St Johnstone outfit that had lost their previous five games - and were whipped 5-0 at Celtic Park last weekend - the Ibrox’s side impotence without the suspended Alfredo Morelos ensured that Celtic tomorrow at Kilmarnock have the opportunity to open up an eight-point gap at the top of the Premiership table.

If they do, any last vestiges of a title race will evaporate but, in reality, there was nothing to indicate that Rangers have it in them to mount a serious assault on their city rivals title hegemony.

The Perth opponents were obdurate and admirable in their willingness to put their bodies on the line. But they were composed and controlled, too, and fashioned the best openings. As their manager Tommy Wright noted afterwards, this was no rearguard action at an arena where often-times he said his players have had to don the “tin hats”.

They were not required because they found themselves against a collection of tin soldiers, Gerrard lambasting the lack of leaders in his side and laying waste to a performance that he practically acknowledged served to demonstrate precisely why Celtic have no serious challenger as they pursue an eighth straight title.

Worrying for Gerrard is that the game plan he praised his opposite number for is the sort Steve Clarke has patented in producing regular difficulties for the Ibrox side. The Scottish Cup fifth round replay at home to Kilmarnock on Wednesday night has now become potentially season-defining.

Morelos will return for that one. Without the 23-goal Columbian, and the injured midfield dynamos of Scott Arfield and Ryan Jack - who are both doubts for the reply - Rangers proved hideously laboured.

Gerrard, indeed, was frank enough to admit his team might well have lost in producing only one shot on target. That came after 20 minutes, with Cammy Bell - in for the injured Zander Clark - equal to strong header from Connor Goldson

In contrast, St Johnstone twice came within a whisker of a breakthrough in the second period. Wes Foderingham, deputising for the suspended Allan McGregor, was required to exhibit cat-like reflexes to deny a thumping low header from Joe Shaughnessy.

That came in the 74th minute. Four minutes later substitute Blair Alston looked to have won it for the visitors when he chased down a chip over the Rangers backline from David Wotherspoon and lobbed over Foderingham, only for the ball to clatter the underside of the bar and bounce down to allow the Rangers keeper to grab it.

“I thought Blair’s chance was in all day,” said Wright, who declared his team “could have edged it” with the chances that they crafted. “You thought it would drop in but it didn’t. On another day, with a bit of luck, it could have been three points. The performance was excellent and we deserved what we got today.”

The Perth club’s manager gave short-shrift to the notion that the draw was a much-need boost after a recent sequence wherein they lost three times to Celtic in quick succession.

“The boys didn’t need lifting,” he said. “They’re good players who wouldn’t let three defeats against Celtic affect them. We knew it would be a difficult period and we could have done better but we have more points this season than we had at the same point last season.

“When good players play as well as they can as they did today we get results. Nobody would have given us a chance but we believed and had total faith in them. Not many teams could take a beating at Celtic then come here in the next game, keep a clean sheet and almost win. I’ve had afternoons here when it’s been tin hats but that wasn’t the case today. We gave a really controlled performance and that’s why we got the result.”

It is a result that allows the McDiarmid Park men to remain firmly on the trail of a place in the top six. Rangers, meanwhile, can surely only hope to be second best.