BORNA Barasic has flattered to deceive during his time at Rangers but the Croatian’s free-kick which won his team three precious points was an inarguable moment of brilliance.
On a tricky and hot day in Paisley for Steven Gerrard’s team who came up against a stuffy St Mirren side, the left-back conjured up his best moment by far in a Rangers jersey. His shot enjoyed the perfect amount of pace, accuracy and result.
It came just before the hour after Calum Waters had fouled Jermain Defoe not far outside the St Mirren penalty area. The position favoured a left footed player, Barasic fancied himself, and sent the ball with dip and curl into the top corner.
Rangers deserved to win but it would be remiss not to congratulate Jim Goodwin’s men. St Mirren look a better side than last season. They didn’t create enough but were always in the afternoon.
An always watchable game began with a rarity: a bad Defoe miss. The Rangers striker might have been a fraction offside in the opening minutes when he got past the St Mirren back four and in on goal, but the flag stayed down and, unusually, the ball went wide.
St Mirren had only one real chance in the first half, which isn’t to say they didn’t try to get at Rangers.
The ball broke down the right to Jon Obika on 29 minutes, he had a few team-mates to aim for in the middle, tried to cross, got it wrong, but so wrong that it caught out Allan McGregor who was relieved to see the ball come back off his far post.
St Mirren sat deep, were organised and tackled well. Rangers had a lot of the ball but had it nicked off them more than once when they got near the opposition box.
In saying that, St Mirren goalkeeper Vaclav Hladky was forced into making two saves, one from Connor Goldson’s effort from outside the box was formulaic, his effort to keep out a Scott Arfield header more impressive.
St Mirren appealed for a penalty three minutes before the break with Obika took a tumble inside the Rangers box. Referee Kevin Clancy said no most likely because the striker appeared to lay an arm on marker Filip Helander first – although the centre-half hardly covered himself in glory.
Hladky had a good afternoon. He made a fine stop minutes into the second half when diving full stretch to get his fingers to Ryan Jack’s shot.
However, the goal was coming. Not even Hladky could do anything about it. Once Barasic produced his wonder moment – he got booked for the celebration – Rangers were comfortable enough.
Defoe could have killed the match on 73 minutes, his shot whizzed wide, and St Mirren didn't give up.
They threw everything at Rangers late on and with a minute to go, a low cross bounce off new signing Junior Morais a few yards from goal, allowing Allan McGregor to collect.
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