Abdallah Sima wakes Rangers up as Todd Cantwell inspires key win over sleepy St Mirren - 3 talking points

Abdallah Sima fired Rangers to a routine 2-0 win over St Mirren as they bounced back from European disappointment to remain eight points behind Celtic.

Philippe Clement made his feelings clear about Thursday's draw with Limassol by making five changes to the starting XI. Todd Cantwell survived despite being hooked early against Aris and started alongside Ross McCausland, who replaced him during the week.

James Tavernier was the early threat down the right and a signature whipped cross from the skipper nearly yielded the opening goal. He picked out Sima who rose well to meet it midway through the first half but his header fizzed just over Zach Hemming's crossbar. The first half hour passed without much incident and the groans that accompanied John Lundstram's long-range thump over the bar just about summed up the mood at Ibrox.

Jack Butland wasn't tested much in the first half but he needed every inch of his frame to deny Caolan Boyd-Munce a spectacular opener. He dived low to his right to deny the Irishman, who must have thought he'd opened the scoring from distance.

A sleepy Sunday suddenly woke up right on the half-time whistle when Sima broke the deadlock with his tenth goal of the season. That came after Cantwell charged in from the right and initially appeared to have overrun it before Sima arrived on the scene, took charge, and finished emphatically beyond Hemming.

Aside from the odd speculative effort from distance, St Mirren weren't offering much, camping deep in their own half and waiting to be beaten. Without getting out of first gear, Rangers were in control, and the second goal arrived from nothing with 15 minutes to go.

Once again it was Cantwell creating, winning the ball back and running from deep to