Rangers delivered a dominant 4-0 victory over St Johnstone on Saturday to keep the pressure on Celtic at the top of the Premiership. The team's record of six wins and two draws from those nine fixtures has them sitting second in the table.
Kevin Kelsy opened the scoring after 29 minutes, finishing from a Ryan Naderi assist. Naderi then turned scorer himself just after the hour mark, before Kelsy added his second five minutes later. Substitute Tochi Chukwuani completed the rout three minutes from time, assisted by Djeidi Gassama. This comprehensive result followed a 2-2 draw away to Dundee the previous Saturday.
St Johnstone's red card
St Johnstone's difficult afternoon was compounded when Kai Fotheringham was shown a straight red card for a serious foul in the 74th minute. The visitors also saw Taylor Steven booked late on, while Rangers' Badredine Bouanani received a yellow card during the same stoppage-time incident.
The statistics reflected Rangers' control, with the home side enjoying 64% possession and registering 21 shots to St Johnstone's nine. The result continues a strong run of form for D. McInnes's side, who are now unbeaten in five league games, a sequence that includes a win and a draw against Celtic. Ryan Naderi, who now has four goals this season, was instrumental in the victory with a goal and an assist. He is the club's top scorer this campaign with those four goals from eight appearances. The team's recent form of four wins and a draw from their last five matches, including victories over Kilmarnock and Celtic, has been built on a solid defence that has conceded only seven goals all season while scoring thirteen.
Rangers now turn their attention to a key away fixture against third-placed Heart of Midlothian on Wednesday evening. The trip to face Hearts on Wednesday 28 October represents a significant test against another high-flying side.
