4 years ago
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Alfredo Morelos scored his first goals since February as Rangers eased past St Mirren to make it two Scottish Premiership wins out of two.
The Colombian headed Rangers' second after Conor McCarthy's first-half own goal and made it 3-0 with a tap-in.
Striker Cedric Itten made his debut late on as the Ibrox side dominated in the Glasgow sunshine.
St Mirren goalkeeper Jak Alnwick twice denied James Tavernier and home stopper Jon McLaughlin kept out Ilkay Durmus.
Reaction & as it happenedHow did the players rate?Morelos started despite the midweek signings of Itten and Kemar Roofe, the latter not in the squad, with manager Steven Gerrard saying last season's top scorer had had his head turned by speculation linking him with Lille.
But the 24-year-old recaptured the form of his first three seasons at the club with a powerful header to convert Tavernier's corner and then a close-range finish after Borna Barisic had crossed from the left.
He may have netted earlier had it not been for Alnwick, who also foiled Joe Aribo and stretched to beat away two shots by Tavernier.
St Mirren struggled to get out of their own half but gave the home side a worrying period early in the second half when debutant McLaughlin missed a cross and had to recover with a save off Jamie McGrath's shot, with the Scotland cap then holding a fierce Durmus free-kick.
What did we learn?
While the transfer window remains open, it is likely Morelos will continue to be linked with a move away from Ibrox after scoring 79 goals since he arrived in 2017.
However, this performance showed he can still be an asset to Rangers.
Gerrard's side had nearly three-quarters of the possession, 29 shots in total and 12 on target, building on the superiority they enjoyed at Aberdeen last weekend.
St Mirren got their season off to a winning start last week against Livingston and Alnwick's performance will give the Paisley side confidence they have a reliable last line of defence this season.
However, Jon Obika was very isolated in attack and needs more support in matches where St Mirren are going to be under the cosh.
Man of the match - Alfredo Morelos
What did they say?
Rangers manager Steven Gerrard told Sky Sports: "I questioned Alfredo Morelos' performance in midweek and I spoke to him about his performance in midweek.
"Today, he's been fantastic. I thought his all-round game was strong. Normally, when you've got his talent and you play him well, the numbers are going to come and he gets an assist and a couple of goals and he thoroughly deserved that."
St Mirren manager Jim Goodwin told Sky Sports: "I can have no arguments about the final result, Rangers were excellent from start to finish.
"At the same time, I can't fault my players' effort either. They gave me absolutely everything. It's always going to be a difficult afternoon."
What's next?
St Mirren host Celtic in Wednesday's 18:00 BST kick-off before Rangers take on St Johnstone at Ibrox later that day at 19:45.
By then Rangers, who were knocked out of the 2019-20 Europa League by Bayer Leverkusen on Thursday, will have featured in the second qualifying draw for this season's tournament.
