Rangers 0 St. Mirren 2 (Mandron 51, Olusanya 70)
Attendance 49,994
By Robert McElroy
Rangers succumbed to a second consecutive home defeat at Ibrox on Saturday afternoon, suffering a 0-2 reversal at the hands of St. Mirren following a quite lamentable performance.
Remarkably, the Light Blues’ last setback in a Premiership fixture also came against their near-neighbours – on ‘Boxing Day’ in Paisley, 1-2, since when Saints have won just one League outing.
Philippe Clement made two changes from Tynecastle with Robin Propper and Cyriel Dessers coming in for the injured John Souttar and Tom Lawrence, Souttar’s absence meaning that the Ibrox men now had no fewer than four central defenders on the casualty list.
Rangers did make a positive start to the game, yet almost presented St. Mirren with the opener in the ninth minute when a careless pass from Jack Butland gave possession straight to Jonah Ayunga, only for the ‘Gers ‘keeper to partially redeem himself by parrying the forward’s effort, the loose ball breaking to Mikael Mandron who sliced his effort over.
Two minutes later at the other end Vaclav Cerny, cutting in from the right, saw his left-foot drive bundled clear by visiting ‘keeper Zach Hemming.
The Light Blues were dominating possession as they searched for the breakthrough, although a lack of drive, imagination and penetration all too often was apparent – with the ball being continuously played back the way instead of forward.
Just before the half-hour mark Ianis Hagi seized on a loose ball out of the opposition area before finding Hamza Igamane whose twenty-yard shot was deflected over.
A wretched first-half appeared to be drifting towards the interval when the 49,994 crowd exploded in anger as Referee Kevin Clancy red-carded Igamane for a late tackle on Mark O’Hara. The intervention of VAR however meant that the card was downgraded to yellow as the official – unlike Nick Walsh at Tannadice – recognised he had misjudged the incident.
Philippe Clement made no changes at the break – to the astonishment of many spectators – yet six minutes after the restart the deadlock was broken when Clinton Nsiala stumbled when chasing a long ball, allowing Mandron to pounce, rifling the ball past Butland. The referee at first indicated a foul – but after consulting VAR once more he decided that Nsiala had tripped himself up and awarded a goal.
Clement was finally forced to act, as just before the hour mark he introduced Danilo (making a welcome return from injury) as he substituted for Igamane.
Sixty seconds later Nico Raskin was denied when his low 25-yard drive following a Jefte break down the left was turned wide by Hemming.
Cerny should have equalised on 65 minutes when he shot wide with a right-foot shot from a Danilo opening and midway through the second-half Dessers shot across the face of goal from a tight angle following a James Tavernier break down the right.
Rangers were right up against it however in the seventieth minute when another Nsiala error enabled Saints’ substitute Toyosi Olusanya to curl the ball into the net.
A double substitution two minutes later saw Tom Lawrence and Nedim Bajrami introduced for Mohamed Diomande and Hagi.
Time however was running out for the Ibrox men – although many were mystified at the absence of any further changes with youngsters Rafael Fernandes, Ross McCausland, Bailey Rice and Findlay Curtis all remaining unused on the bench.
With the last kick of the ball, Cerny saw his curler from the edge of the area from a Raskin pass strike the crossbar – but it was too little, too late, and at the final whistle the boos and jeers poured down from all areas of the Stadium.
A dreadful day again for the Light Blues who suffered their first League defeat of the season at home and their first League reversal of 2025 – a result that will undoubtedly increase the pressure on the Manager. However perhaps the real aim of the critics should be aimed at the likes of James Tavernier, Ianis Hagi, Nedim Bajrami and Hamza Igamane who have not kicked a ball for weeks.
Rangers: Butland; Tavernier, Propper, Nsiala, Jefte; Cerny, Diomande (Lawrence72), Raskin, Hagi (Bajrami 72), Igamane (Danilo 58); Dessers
Unused Subs: Yilmaz, Kelly. Fernandes, McCausland, Rice, Curtis
St. Mirren: Hemming; Fraser, Gogic, Taylor; Alebiosu (Bwomono 65), Phillips (Kiltie 75), Boyd-Munce (Smyth 65), O’Hara, John (Tanser 90); Mandron, Ayunga (Olusanya 65)
Unused Subs: Urminsky, Idowu, Oseni, Kenny
Referee: Kevin Clancy
