Kelsy brace and Naderi goal help Rangers beat St Johnstone 4-0
Rangers beat St Johnstone 4-0 in the Scottish Premiership on Saturday, with Kevin Kelsy opening the scoring as Derek McInnes' side bounced back after dropping points at Dundee last weekend. The win provided the response McInnes had demanded following that disappointment.
Rangers dominated for large periods, although the report noted a wobble at the start of the second half when Saints threatened to get back into the game, and added that the 4-0 scoreline "in no way flattered them." Former Rangers midfielder Andy Halliday, speaking on BBC Radio Scotland's Sportsound, said: "Rangers were excellent for a number of reasons," "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."
McInnes reverted to a two-striker system, dropping Djeidi Gassama to the bench, and the change paid off as Kelsy and Ryan Naderi combined for the opening goal. Kelsy finished the game with a brace and Naderi contributed a goal and an assist, providing further evidence the pairing can lead the attack in the absence of other forwards.
Ex-Rangers forward Peter Lovenkrands, also on Sportsound, underlined the on-field impact of the forwards' contribution: "Goals and assists for a striker make such a big difference in the style of play and how you approach the whole game," said Lovenkrands. "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."
The match statistics reflected Rangers' control: expected goals of 4.57 to St Johnstone's 0.58, 21 shots with nine on target, and eight big chances created compared with Saints' two. Rangers forced 13 corners and one of them produced Kelsy's second, when Emmanuel Fernandez's flick-on allowed him to tuck home; it was the first goal Rangers have scored from a corner this season.
Halliday highlighted set-pieces as an area of improvement even within a strong display: "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. "They've got Naderi, Kelsy, Fernandez, they've got giants to hit but the delivery for the most part hasn't been good enough. "On the 11th corner today they finally scored. Talk about adding strings to their bow. They need to get back to the point where they are a real danger from set-pieces."
McInnes described the performance as "as good as we've been for a while" and said the victory sets Rangers up for Wednesday night's Scottish Premiership meeting with Hearts, his first return to Tynecastle since swapping Gorgie for Govan in the summer. He said: "I had a brilliant time there and I know how difficult the fixture is for any opposition going to Tynecastle," "We were unbeaten all season last season at Hearts and they've a strong home record, so we're going to have to bring a big performance to go there and get a result. "We're well aware of that but I think we're in good form. We are slowly but surely just chalking off wins and there's loads of positives. "It's never a bad thing when your strikers score and you go to any game, any venue, believing that you can get a result. We expect it to be tough but equally we want to make sure it's a tough night for them as well."
