Rangers Narrow the Gap with Celtic After Defeating St Mirren

Following a 2-1 victory over St Mirren at Ibrox, Rangers have reduced the gap with second-placed Celtic, although they still trail Scottish Premiership leaders Hearts by six points. The match saw Rangers break a four-game winless streak against St Mirren, with the team scoring on either side of the break through well-executed set pieces. Thelo Aasgaard opened the scoring by heading in Jayden Meghoma's corner delivery, and Youssef Chermiti later set up Emmanuel Fernandez to score from another corner routine. Rangers' control was disrupted when referee Ryan Lee awarded St Mirren a penalty after a VAR review, deeming Fernandez guilty of handball. However, justice was served as Marcus Fraser's subsequent spot-kick was denied by Jack Butland. Mikael Mandron then reduced the deficit for St Mirren, but despite increased pressure, the visitors were unable to capitalize on their chances, with Butland making crucial saves. As a result, Rangers have closed the gap with Celtic to three points, following the latter's loss to Motherwell. The two teams are set to clash in the Old Firm derby on January 3, live on Sky Sports. Rangers manager Danny Röhl expressed his satisfaction with the win, stating, 'It's difficult to play against St Mirren, but we fully deserved the victory. We played fantastic football for 75 minutes, and Youssef Chermiti delivered an outstanding performance.' Röhl also discussed the title race, saying, 'When I took over, the gap was 14 or 15 points, but now we've reduced it to six points. There's still a long way to go, but I'm happy with our progress.' St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson praised his team's second-half performance, saying, 'We were exceptionally good and created numerous opportunities. However, we gave Rangers too much respect in the first half and our defending on set plays was disappointing.'