JIM GOODWIN is praying St Mirren haven’t suffered a serious injury setback after Jamie McGrath was stretchered off during their defeat to Rangers.

McGrath received treatment on the park before being carried away and the lengthy stoppage saw seven minutes of added time played in Paisley.

It wasn’t time that the Buddies could use to their advantage, however, as Connor Ronan’s early strike proved in vain for Goodwin’s side.

The hosts were forced to play the closing stages with ten men after Goodwin introduced Richard Tait, Ryan Flynn and Curtis Main in the second half.

And the Saints boss could now be counting the cost of the Premiership clash after losing one of his most influential performers.

Goodwin said: "We are not sure, but Jamie would not got down, and would not go off on a stretcher, if it wasn’t serious.

“He will go for a scan tomorrow (Monday) and we will say our prayers that it’s nothing too serious.

“Initially he took a bang and we thought it was a dead leg or he was winded. But it was on his hip.

“He was struggling but we had made all our substitutions and we wanted him to try and get through it.

“But hindsight is a wonderful thing. I wish we had taken him off immediately but I didn’t realise it was as serious as it was.

“He’s tried to overstretch to get on the end of a diagonal from Connor Ronan and something has went.

“He’s a big player for us so hopefully it’s nothing too serious.”

The loss of McGrath was another blow for St Mirren to suffer after a positive start that saw them dare to dream of a famous win.

A Kemar Roofe penalty and quickfire second from Alfredo Morelos – as he netted his 100th goal for Rangers – ultimately won it for the champions.

St Mirren dominated the early stages and took a deserved lead as Ronan found the top corner of Jon McLaughlin’s net with a wonderful long-range strike.

But Rangers recovered from a lackadaisical start to find their feet and emerged as deserved winners in the end as Goodwin was left to rue the manner of the two goals his side conceded.

Goodwin said: “Rangers weren’t causing us problems but after half an hour they got their foot on the ball and dominated possession more than we would have liked.

“But they were not causing us real problems. Jak Alnwick had one save I would expect him to make. We were comfortable but what disappointed me was the manner of the goals we conceded.

“If you play Rangers or Celtic and they cut you open with fantastic free-flowing football you hold your hands up. But it was two really poor goals.

“Alan (Power) when he watches it back will realise he doesn’t have to try and get the ball. If he jockeys Hagi he’s probably not going to do a great deal with it.

“But he’s stuck a leg out and unfortunately players nowadays are going to go over. In the modern day game, it’s a pen.

“The second goal straight after is the real killer blow. We needed to manage the game and get to half time level pegging. We need to defend the cross better.

“Connor McCarthy gets himself into a a good area at the near post and he needs to clear it. It’s as simple as that.

“Morelos is never going to miss that from two yards out. It was really, really disappointed.

“We felt we deserved something from the game but Rangers will feel it was job done.”