Derek McInnes praised his Rangers players as they moved to the top of the league and blamed the extended international break for some disjointed play in a 3-1 win over Kilmarnock. Rangers went into the break three up at Ibrox after Ryan Naderi twice headed home either side of a Kevin Kelsy strike. But Killie had chances throughout, especially after the interval, before finally getting their reward when substitute Nicky Clescenco struck on a last-minute counterattack.
The visitors ended the game with six efforts on target to Rangers’ four, but the home goalkeeper, Ivor Pandur, was seriously troubled once before being beaten. Rangers moved a point ahead of Celtic, who face Motherwell on Sunday, thanks to a sixth consecutive league win. McInnes, who started with eight of the 13 players who had been away on international duty, said: “The fact we went top of the league, we shouldn’t lose sight of that.
There’s a lot of positives, but the performance was disjointed at times. We put the ball in the box, we scored goals. We just didn’t do it enough for whatever reason.
But we have to be honest, for long spells we looked like a team that hadn’t been together for the last three weeks. Whoever came up with this idea, it’s such a long time for your players to be away. We pay their wages, we look after our players and for them to be away for nearly three weeks is too long.
But we’ve got the job done and credit the players for digging deep and getting three points.” Hearts eased to their biggest home win in the league for three-and-a-half years as they dismantled St Mirren 5-0 to remain on the coattails of Rangers and Celtic. The third-placed Jambos dominated from the start and Laurent Mendy fired them ahead in the 20th minute. Calvin Miller scored two penalties, either side of half-time, before goals from Cláudio Braga and Josh McPake ensured a smooth afternoon for Hearts before their Conference League opener at home to Nordsjaelland on Thursday.
It was Hearts’ biggest league win at Tynecastle since they defeated Ross County 6-1 under Steven Naismith in April 2023 and they are now comfortably the top scorers in the league. Their manager, Wouter Vrancken, said: “We try to play a kind of football that is positive and constructive and proactive, and not a reaction. I think people come to the stadium to see nice football, to see goals from your side.
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