'All about three points' - Former Ibrox star praises ugly St Mirren win as Rangers emulate rivals mentality
Rangers kept pace with Celtic and gained on Hearts in the SPFL Premiership title race with a hard-fought Paisley victory.
Peter Lovenkrands was proud of Rangers’ performance in their 1-0 win over St Mirren despite the match not being a great spectacle for the neutrals.
January signing Tuur Rommens got the only goal of the game as the Light Blues had to contend with a physical Buddies side, as well as some blustery weather conditions. The win keeps Rangers a point behind Celtic, who defeated 10-man Motherwell 3-1 at home and closes the gap on league leaders Hearts to three after their defeat at Kilmarnock.
Rommens provided perhaps the only piece of quality for the entire 90 minutes in Paisley but in the end, it was enough to get Rangers over the line. The result reminded Lovenkrands of Celtic’s recent run in the league, who’ve been praised in recent seasons for their healthy knack of finding a way to win, while not being at their best.
Rangers showed winning mentality in far from ‘pretty’ away win
Speaking alongside Scott Allan on BBC’s Scottish Football Podcast, Lovenkrands said: “At this stage of the competition, no, it doesn't matter (how to win). It's all about three points. We've got eight games to go now in total and that's all that matters. It's getting the over line and getting the three points.
“That's what Celtic have been doing for years, scoring late on, getting the one nils, or scoring late winners and taking the three points away. They’ve won so many championships on the back of these things and not all have been pretty.
“Yes, you want to play good football all the time, but going away from home like that, in tough conditions - rain, wind- it's just about getting three points and taking them back. They haven't picked up points away from home recently either, so that was why today was about winning first and performance second.”
Gers handled Paisley gale well
Former Celtic man, Allan was impressed by how Rangers dealt with the extreme weather conditions at the SMISA Stadium, as they kept focus for 90 minutes in the wind and rain. He added: “I think obviously first and foremost you’ve got to factor in the wind.
“Peter will agree with me, there's nothing worse than playing in the wind, especially, when the rain was involved as well. I think at the same time coming off the back of the manner in which they lost the game to Celtic last week in the cup, I think today was all about just getting the three points, performance, then comes secondary.
“It was all about winning the game. We didn't quite know what St Mirren were going to look like under Craig McLeish. But it's a springboard again for Rangers to go on a run. You look at their upcoming fixtures, both games, you would fully expect to win at Ibrox and then after that there’s the split.”