Rangers player ratings vs St Mirren: Gers lose further ground on Celtic as late Saints winner sparks widespread anger

Ragged Rangers Scottish Premiership struggles continued as a stoppage-time Caolan Boyd Munce winner for St Mirren ensured Philippe Clement’s side lost further ground on league leaders Celtic at the top of the table.

The Ibrox side came into this fixture at the SMiSA Stadium having lost only one of their last 26 Boxing Day games in the league, with the last coming back in 2002. Clement’s men were aiming to strengthen their grip on second place following Aberdeen’s heavy defeat at Kilmarnock earlier in the day.

He made four changes to his starting XI with the main team news pre-match centering around the return of first-choice goalkeeper Jack Butland who had been replaced between the sticks by Liam Kelly prior to kick-off against Dundee in their most recent outing after being called away to the birth of his daughter.

In a first-half of few clear-cut chances, the visitors pace and movement in attack was causing the Buddies rearguard defensively. However, St Mirren posed a threat of their own going forward and an early injury to Leon Balogun inside the opening 20 minutes did little to lift Clement’s festive mood. The Nigerian international was unable to continue after hurting his ankle while locked in a tussle with Toyosi Olusanya and had to be replaced by Robin Propper.

With Balogun now expected to face a stint on the sidelines, it leaves Clement short of defensive options with mainstay John Souttar already ruled out until the New Year.

And things were about to go from bad to worse for Rangers when St Mirren were awarded a penalty just shy of the half hour mark following a VAR check. A long ball over the top caught out the Gers backline and Butland was forced to race off his time but mistimed his challenge on Greg Kiltie and wiped the Saints player out.

After a VAR check, referee David Dickinson stuck by his initial decision and flashed a yellow card in the direction of the returning stopper. From the resulting spot-kick, Oisin Smyth made no mistake by coolly sending Butland the wrong way to give the home side the lead.

Rangers looked for an immediate response but midfielder Connor Barron failed to prevent his shot from distance from sailing over the bar before Hamza Igamane has their first effort on target with a strike on the turn, which was straight down the throat of Ellery Balcombe in the hosts goa

Clement’s frustration was evident on the touchline and the Belgian was cautioned along with Vaclav Cerny after another decision went against his side approaching the interval. His players were throwing plenty at their opponents but not much was coming off for them against a rock-solid Saints defence.

The Belgian was clearly disgruntled with his side’s performance and made two changes at half-time. Connor Barron and the largely ineffective Nedim Bajrami were the players hooked with Nicolas Raskin and Danilo introduced in their place.

They instantly began to pose more of a threat in the final third and moved the ball quicker along the bobbly playing surface. Captain James Tavernier came close to an equaliser after 54 minutes when his free-kick flashed narrowly wide of Balcombe’s near post. Minutes later, Igamane laid the ball off to strike partner Danilo, but the Brazilian’s shot took a wicked deflection and was comfortably saved by the Saints No.1.

Rangers were playing on the front-foot and piling on the pressure in search of a leveller. Cerny crashed a powerful drive off the crossbar after escaping the attentions of his marker inside the box before an impressive double-save from Balcombe denied Tavernier and Danilo’s follow-up attempt.

But St Mirren’s resistance was eventually broken just past the hour mark when they failed to deal with a Tavernier corner, causing a major goalmouth scramble inside a crowded penalty area. Raskin’s shot was blocked but fellow substitute Danilo was on hand to slot home the loose ball into the bottom corner for his fourth goal of the campaign.

The tidal wave of Rangers attack continued and Igamane should’ve have made it 2-1 after some clever link-up play involving Cerny, but the Moroccan striker curled his effort off target.

However, St Mirren came closest to re-taking the lead when a corner from the right-hand side caused problems for an unconvincing Butland and defender Robin Propper was forced to turn the ball against his own crossbar.

Rangers momentum had completely fizzled out in the closing stages and with seven minutes of stoppage time signalled, it was the men in black and white that more likely to nick a last-gasp winner. It arrived in the shape of Caolan Boyd-Munce who drilled a first-time effort beyond Butland into the far corner of the net in the 93rd minute after Dujon Sterling lost possession deep inside his own half.

It was a strike worthy of winning any game to ensure Rangers left Paisley empty handed. A chorus of large-scale boos greeted the full-time whistle. This wasn’t quite a Boxing Day bonanza, but it’s a result that leaves Clement’s men 12 points adrift of leaders Celtic and desperately searching for answers with the January transfer window on the horizon.

Here is how GlasgowWorld rated the Rangers players in their latest Scottish Premiership clash in Paisley.