Derek McInnes demanded a response from his Rangers team after the disappointment of two dropped points at Dundee last weekend - and they delivered in emphatic style to swot aside St Johnstone. Other than a bit of a wobble at the start of the second half when Saints threatened to get back into the game, Rangers dominated and the 4-0 win in no way flattered them. "Rangers were excellent for a number of reasons," former Rangers midfielder Andy Halliday said on BBC Radio Scotland's Sportsound.
"I thought it was as a positive 90 minutes as you can get. They created an abundance of chances. In the first half alone it should have been 4-0.
"It's always a positive when you come away with no injuries and your strikers are scoring goals again." Podcast: Sportsound reaction to Saturday's fixtures The goals and performances of Kevin Kelsy and Ryan Naderi at the top end of the pitch justified McInnes' decision to drop Djeidi Gassama to the bench and go with two strikers. The two linked up well for Kelsy's opening goal and, with the Venezuelan coming away with a brace and Naderi a goal and an assist, the partnership provided more evidence they can spearhead Rangers' attack in the continued absence of Lawrence Shankland and Youssef Chermiti. "Goals and assists for a striker make such a big difference in the style of play and how you approach the whole game," said ex-Rangers forward Peter Lovenkrands on Sportsound.
"You take shots, you are more confident with your touches, everything like that just gets better and better. This will do a world of good for Kelsy's confidence." Rangers narrow gap on Celtic with thumping win over St Johnstone Raskin happy at Rangers but unsure about January The match stats tell the story of Rangers' dominance. Their expected goals was 4.57 to St Johnstone's 0.58.
They had 21 shots on goal, nine on target and created eight big chances to Saints' two. They forced 13 corners and one of them led to a goal as Kelsy got on the end of Emmanuel Fernandez's flick-on to tuck home his second goal. It was the first goal Rangers have scored from a corner this season.
"One of Rangers' main strengths from last season was set-pieces," said Halliday. "Rangers have had countless corners and wide free-kicks this season when it's not been James Tavernier delivering it. The standard of delivery this year has been really poor from set-pieces.
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