Rangers find St Mirren too easy to beat even with ten men

Then Ross McCrorie was sent off for a tackle on St Mirren striker Nicolai Brock-Madsen and an easy afternoon became slightly more challenging although at no point did Alan Stubbs’s side hint that they could take something.

Referee Don Robertson was, in the eyes of Rangers supporters, the bad guy for showing a red card and, but Gerrard himself felt it was the right decision.

McCrorie did foul Brock-Madsen when he was through on goal – Stephen McGinn’s pass gave him the chance - but he did go for the ball and had the foul taken place inside the penalty box then there is every chance the Rangers midfielder would only have been booked given the new rules.

Robertson from then on got every decision wrong according to the Ibrox faithful. He didn’t, of course, but there were a few tackles on Rangers players which could easily have resulted in a booking.

For all of that, it was still a victory filled with some fine displays and one in particular from the home side caught the eye

The transfer dealings of Rangers in recent years have been a lesson in how not to get value for money as players not good enough have been paid big wages to contribute so little.

However, the £1.5m spent on Borna Barisic shows that lessons have been learned at Ibrox. The Croatian left-back enjoyed a fantastic debut. He bombed down the left, was strong in the tackle, crossed the ball well with both feet and he’s only going to get better.

He lasted just over an hour which was more than he needed to impress.

St Mirren looked like a team which had just stepped up a level. Stubbs has a bunch of willing players, some better than others, and while a defeat at Ibrox can hardly be seen as a disaster, the bravery he wanted from his players in terms of getting on the ball wasn’t shown by everyone even with a man advantage.

Rangers were on the front foot from the start. Only four minutes had passed when Connor Goldson’s clever pass found Morelos who with not much time and space controlled the ball and then sent it just wide.

St Mirren were actually just getting the smallest of footholds into the game when they gifted Rangers an opening goal.

Jack Baird had the ball fired back to him when he was last man, he couldn’t get the message of clearing his lines to his feet, Jamie Murphy robbed him of possession, Morelos took over and found the opposite corner with a confidence which was so badly missing towards the end of last season.

It was 2-0 on 24 minutes. Barisic was on free-kicks and his delivery into the box was perfect, Goldson’s rise and header equally so and even at full stretch St Mirren keeper Samson had no chance of making a save.

Four minutes before McCrorie’s red card, Rangers almost put the game to bed when Ryan Kent’s corner was met in the air by Goldson whose header came off the bottom off the post and somehow stayed out.

St Mirren’s only chance of the half came three minutes before the break when Danny Mullen cut inside Jon Flannigan and his curled shot grazed the top of the crossbar.

The men from Paisley did attack more in the second 45, had they not questions would have been asked, but they lacked that bit of quality required to work out a way past a well organised Rangers rear-guard.

In truth, the red card changed the game. Rangers tightened up and were happy enough to ensure St Mirren didn’t get a goal which they never really looked as if they were capable of scoring.

Indeed, it was the ten men who might have scored more.

On 70 minutes, Morelos was prevented from a second by Samson’s legs and Oviemuno Ejaria should have scored on 76 minutes when he robbed Stephen McGinn on the edge of the box but then put his effort straight at the St Mirren goalkeeper.

The game ended with a booking when St Mirren captain McGinn got rid of some frustration on Lassana Coulibaly who had dribbled his way past four players. That summed it up. Rangers were just too good.