Rangers player ratings vs St Johnstone: One 8/10 confidence-booster but Hagi endures nightmare return

Ten-man Rangers shrugged off any sign of a European hangover to narrow the gap on Premiership pacesetters Celtic and Aberdeen back to five points with Vaclav Cerny’s deadly double consigning St Johnstone to a 2-0 defeat at Ibrox

It was important for Philippe Clement’s men to avoid losing further ground at the league summit heading into the latest international break and the Light Blues never appeared likely to drop points on this occasion, despite comeback kid Ianis Hagi’s late red card ending the match on a rather sour note.

The Perth outfit - with newly-appointed manager Simo Valakari watching on from the stands as he awaits a work permit - were seeking their first win over the Gers since November 2022, while the home side were aiming to respond with a positive performance following a heavy Europa League defeat at home to clinical Lyon on Thursday night.

For all their first-half dominance which saw them have almost 70% possession, Rangers had only one goal to show for it at the break. Cyriel Dessers somehow headed over the bar from six yards out after connecting with a James Tavernier corner inside the opening 10 minutes before the Gers skipper curled a free-kick, which took a slight deflection, fly narrowly over the top shortly after.

The deadlock was broken after 34 minutes and it came from a moment of individual excellent from Czech winger Cerny. The confidence-shorn Wolfsburg loanee cut inside from the right before curling an effort from the edge of the area beyond Ross Sinclair into the bottom left-hand corner. Cerny certainly needed that goal after his bust-up with supporters last week that led him to delete his social media accounts.

Clement made a double substitution at the break with playmaker Ianis Hagi - making his first competitive appearance in over a year after being brought in from the cold - and midfielder Connor Barron brought on for Ross McCausland and Mohamed Diomande.

And Hagi delivered a moment of real quality on his comeback to set up Cerny to double the Gers lead just shy of the hour mark. The Romanian international picked out his team mate on the right-hand side of the box before Cerny swiveled and slotted a right-footed finish into the far corner - the former’s first Premiership assist in three years!

Saints responded well with Jack Butland called into action for the first time to deny ex-Hearts youngster Makenzie Kirk before Nicky Clark had the ball in the net against his old club only to be flagged offside.

Rangers were then reduced to ten men when referee David Dickinson upgraded Hagi’s yellow card for catching Benjamin Kimpioka on the ankle to a red after reviewing the challenge on the pitchside VAR monitor. That forced Clement into two late defensive-minded changes and one of those introduced - Neraysho Kasanwirjo - forced Sinclair into a stunning save from a powerful 20-yard drive in added time.

In the end, this was a fairly comfortable night for Clement’s men who no have a fortnight to regroup and get themselves back into the title race. Here is how GlasgowWorld rated the Rangers players in their latest Premiership clash at Ibrox.