By Duncan Wright
Despite six games of the season remaining the pre-match atmosphere inside Ibrox on Saturday afternoon felt distinctly end of season. Last week’s defeat to Celtic saw Rangers fall twelve points behind in the race for the league title and even the most loyal of supporters would admit that the Ibrox club’s title challenge is over. Michael Beale and his staff would never admit this publicly, but they will understand that the remaining league games are now about preparing for next season.
Following the conclusion of Saturday’s match Beale and his team will have much to ponder in advance of next season. Rangers won the game 5-2 but the scoreline didn’t tell the whole story. The story of the game however was a familiar one for the Govan side – profligate in front of goal and sloppy in defence. Beale addressed issues in the middle of the park in the January transfer window and his focus must now turn to defence and attack.
The two goals Rangers conceded today were quite simply awful. Beale himself called them a horror show and indicated that he made clear to the players how disappointed he was with his teams defending. The first St Mirren goal came on the stroke of half time as Rangers, not for the first time this season, failed to deal with a cross into their box. Kiltie put in a delivery from the right and O’Hara finished superbly.
This equaliser came at the end of a half that had seen Rangers dominate possession but fail to convert chances. They did score after 26 minutes with Cantwell finishing an excellent move involving Tillman, Sakala and Tavernier but by this point in the game the Ibrox crowd had already seen Tavernier miss a penalty and Fashion Sakala fail to convert a good opportunity. The inability to be clinical in front of goal is something that Beale has acknowledged must be addressed and there was further evidence of this in Rangers first half performance on Saturday.
The start of the second half however demonstrated that there can at times be a sharpness to Rangers. With just two minutes of the second half gone Barisic clipped a free kick into the St Mirren box and Sakala nodded past Carson. But with 65 minutes gone Rangers once again demonstrated their defensive frailties, failing to deal with a corner and allowing O’Hara to drill a shot into the bottom corner.
Rangers upped the tempo and soon nudged themselves in front once again. Tavernier’s cross was flicked on by Cantwell and Morelos did well to control and dispatch the ball into the net. A minute later and Rangers had their fourth of the game. Matondo was set free down the left and after driving into the box he expertly picked out Morelos who drilled the ball into the net. And then with only four minutes of the game remaining Rangers scored a fifth goal. Cantwell picked the ball up on the halfway line, ran with pace at the St Mirren defence, before playing a sumptuous no-look pass into the path of Arfield whose finish matched the delightful build up.
In the end Rangers deserved their victory but Beale will remain concerned about the sloppiness that was evident in their play at times. Defensive frailty has been a common theme for the Ibrox club this season and is something that he and his team need to eradicate if they wish to mount a title challenge next season. There was further proof that Nicolas Raskin and Todd Cantwell have been excellent January signings, with Cantwell turning in a Man of the Match performance. His performance contained a goal, an assist and a large amount of hard work and endeavour which will have delighted Beale.
