St Mirren 1-1 Rangers: Player ratings + talking points as prodigious talent rescues point, Martin still without league win
How we rated the Rangers players in the 1-1 Scottish Premiership draw with St Mirren at the SMiSA Stadium
Just three games into the Scottish Premiership season and you couldn’t help but feel like this was a massive afternoon for Rangers boss Russell Martin.
His side rocked up in Paisley in desperate need of a victory against an opponent who have recently become a bit of a bogey team for the Govan outfit.
St Mirren took SEVEN points off the Light Blues last term - more than any other side in the top-flight. And Stephen Robinson’s Buddies were aiming to extend their impressive record on home soil.
Both teams headed into this lunchtime kick-off seeking their first league win of the campaign, with Rangers still licking their wounds after a crushing 3-1 Champions League play-off defeat to Belgian side Club Brugge on Tuesday night.
It’s fair to say Martin’s reign has been seriously unconvincing so far, and the Englishman was battling to avoid another unwanted stat pre-match. Not since the 1989-90 season under Graeme Souness had the Ibrox club gone without a win in their first three league outings.
And with the first Old Firm derby of the season against Celtic on the horizon, it was vital Rangers avoided another domestic slip up at the SMiSA Stadium.
Martin played down talk of this clash being a ‘must-win’ for him at such an early stage in the season, admitting “I don’t buy into that,” but one thing he craved was a positive response from his players following their lacklustre European performance earlier in the week.
Starting without a recognised striker for the first time - perhaps an indication of the lack of faith Martin has in Danilo - summer signing Thelo Aasgaard was given the task of leading the line as a false No.9 against a very physical Saints rear-guard. However, the former Luton Town man was starved of service during the first-half.
The first chance of the game fell the way of Oliver Antman inside the opening 10 minutes. The Finnish international drove forward from the centre of the pitch before seeing his goal bound effort well-saved by Shamal George.
The visitors were enjoying plenty of possession but doing very little with it. Brentford loanee Jayden Meghoma managed to pick out Lyall Cameron in space, but the midfielder skied his close-range effort over the top.
At the other end, the fragile Gers backline were struggling to handle the physical presence of Saints hitman Jonah Ayunga. And the opening goal came after another defensive calamity on 32 minutes.
Mikael Mandron’s perfectly-weighted pass sliced through Rangers centre-half pairing of Emmanuel Fernandez and John Souttar like a knife through butter, allowing Ayunga to outmuscle the latter before racing through and drilling a low shot beyond the despairing dive of Jack Butland.
Saints could’ve doubled their lead a few minutes later when Joe Rothwell inexplicably tipped over his own feet deep inside his own half, but Keanu Baccus was unable to capitalise as he off target.
Once again, Rangers found themselves chasing a game. But they were almost back on level terms after 39 minutes when the ball dropped to the unmarked Aasgaard in the Saints penalty area, but the Norwegian was somehow denied his first goal for the club by an outrageous point-blank save from George, who managed to claw the ball away to safety.
A last-ditch block from Rothwell at the near-post then prevented the home side from increasing their advantage just before half-time after Butland spilled a corner.
A visibly-frustrated Martin turned to his bench as he sought a much-needed spark. On loan Tottenham attacker Mikey Moore and Danilo were introduced for the second half, replacing Antman and Meghoma as part of a tactical re-shuffle that saw Aasgaard deployed in a slightly deeper role.
It was Saints, however, who fancied their chances of adding to their tally of seven goals in four games against the Gers with Mandron flashing a dangerous strike inches wide of Butland’s far post via a slight deflection just shy of the hour mark.
The 3-4-3 formation Martin had adopted simply wasn’t working the way he intended. Djeidi Gassama - who had been largely ineffective - blazed a shot miles over the bar and Cameron then shelled a pass straight out for a throw-in to sum up the visitors day.
St Mirren were posing more of a threat and Alex Gogic passed up a glorious chance to make it 2-0 when he stretched to meet a Mandron knock-down but the Cypriot failed to keep his effort down.
Martin knew time was firmly against his side as Rangers searched for a route back into the game. Mohamed Diomande, James Tavernier and Findlay Curtis were called on and it was the latter who made an instant impact by rifling home the equaliser after 77 minutes.
Tavernier’s corner was cleared but only as far as the youngster whose ferocious strike under pressure flew past the keeper to hand his team-mates a lifeline.
All of a sudden, the men in royal blue had their tails up. The lively Curtis almost turned the game on its head moments later when he forced George to tip another powerful drive behind, before getting the travelling support out of their seats again by charging down an attempted clearance.
Saints were wilting somewhat under a tidal wave of late pressure. Cameron had an effort blocked before Tavernier’s curling shot from 20 yards took a nick off Danilo and forced George into a excellent reaction save.
Both sides could sense a winner in additional time. Butland was called into action again, displaying tremendous reflexes to tip a Gogic header from dipping under his own crossbar.
No goal was forthcoming as loud boos rang out once more from the away section t drown out the applause from the home fans.
Here, GlasgowWorld breaks down three main talking points from the 90 minutes and how the Rangers players fared:
Curtis comes to Rangers rescue
It wasn’t until the arrival of 18-year-old Curtis with 14 minutes left to play did Rangers finally begin to apply some serious pressure on the hosts’ goal. The young attacker displayed the heart of a lion and a terrific attitude to inject some creativity and energy into the side.
The timing of his goal set up a grandstand finish to a game packed full of drama, but what does that say about this current Rangers team when you’re having to turn to a teenager to get you going. It’s clear that Curtis has an extremely bright future ahead of him and, on this basis, is deserving of more game time.
Saints extend unbeaten run over Gers
St Mirren, meanwhile, were extending their unbeaten run over Rangers to four matches in the process as they consigned Martin’s men to a third straight Premiership draw. They pressed high up the pitch and their strike pairing of Ayunga and Mandron possessed real problems for the ropey Gers defence.
They tired as the second half wore on but were well worthy of a share of the spoils and could’ve nicked all three points in added time when Butland kept out Gogic’s header.
Another defensive disaster
With each passing game, Rangers defensive woes are only getting worse and that will be a major concern for Russell Martin. Nasser Djiga missed out through suspension after picking up a red card against Dundee, meaning Emmanuel Fernandez was drafted in to partner skipper John Souttar.
Both players will not want to watch St Mirren’s opener back after allowing a relatively simple ball cut them open far too easily. Time and time again, Souttar and Max Aarons were bullied against Saints imposing frontmen.
GK - Jack Butland (6/10)
RB - Max Aarons (4/10)
LCB - Emmanuel Fernandez (4/10)
CM - Nicolas Raskin (5/10)
CM - Joe Rothwell (3/10)
CM - Lyall Cameron (6/10)
LCF - Djeidi Gassama (5/10)
RCF - Oliver Antman (5/10)
CF - Thelo Aasgaard (4/10)