Smith relieved as Rangers hang on

RANGERS boss Walter Smith was pleased to hold on to another “hard-fought three points” after last night’s 2-1 win at St Mirren.

The Ibrox club stayed in touch with Celtic at the top of the SPL thanks to first-half goals from Kris Boyd and Maurice Edu, the latter’s first in Scottish football.

Andy Dorman pulled a goal back for Saints after the break but it was not enough to prevent his side losing at St Mirren Park for the first time since it opened in January.

Smith said: “We knew it was going to be a tough match. That’s the first team to win here since the new stadium was opened, so delighted to win and for us it was a hard-fought three points.”

Rangers were much improved from Sunday’s scrappy 1-0 win at Falkirk, especially in the first half.

Smith said: “We’ve been passing and keeping possession of the ball fairly well in a lot of the games. The Falkirk game was a little bit of a one-off.

“It was a good reaction from them tonight because we passed the ball very well, especially that first-half period.”

Boyd’s goal came at the end of a sweeping move and Smith said: “It was a terrific goal, the first one, really good passing move and I was delighted to see that one.”

It was not all good news for Rangers as both DaMarcus Beasley and Sasa Papac were forced from the field with injuries before half-time and will now miss Saturday’s clash with Motherwell.

ST MIRREN: Howard, Ross, Potter (Haining 90), Cuthbert, Camara, Thomson, Dorman, Mason (Hamilton 85), McGinn, Dargo, Mehmet.

RANGERS: Alexander, Whittaker, Bougherra, Weir, Papac (Dailly 36), Davis, Edu, Mendes, Naismith, Boyd, Beasley (Novo 15), Novo (Velicka 90).

Referee: E Smith.