Cyriel Dessers strikes again as Rangers win ugly against St Mirren to turn up title heat on Celtic – 3 talking points

Rangers showed their battling side as the survived a slugfest with St Mirren in Paisley thanks to Cyriel Dessers’ 12th goal of the season.

With strong winds buffeting the SMISA Stadium, Philippe Clement’s men refused to be blown off course. Dessers rolled the only goal of the game into an empty net after rounding Buddies keeper Zach Hemmings early doors. There were a few uncomfortable moments for the big Belgian as Saints threatened to hit back. On-loan Celtic ace Kwon blew a golden chance midway through the first half before defender James Bolton rattled the crossbar late on. But Gers held firm for a huge result that temporarily moves them up to within two points of Celtic at the Premiership summit.

A squidgy pitch and the swirling wind hardly made for a free-flowing encounter. But it was the visitors who adapted quickest to the tricky conditions to grab the opener 14 minutes in. John Lundstram was a tad heavy with his first two attempts to play in team-mates.

But his third pass was bang on the money as he sent Dessers running in behind. The Nigeria striker’s first touch took the ball round Zach Hemmings and his second calmly stroked home for his third goal in as many games since the return from the winter break.

Saints’ right-back Elvis Bwomono was culpable having let Dessers run clear of the Buddies backline. But he should have made amends moments later when Scott Tanser’s cross found him free in the box, but a scuffed connection made it an easy gather for Jack Butland.

Fair play to St Mirren, they responded well to going behind but their finishing continued to let them down. They had another golden chance to hit back when Greg Kiltie’s cross was headed only as far as Hyeokkyu Kwon by John Souttar’s weak clearance.

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