Rangers held by St Johnstone

Rangers 0-0 St Johnstone

Rangers missed a chance to narrow the gap with Scottish Premiership leaders Celtic to three points after being held to a draw at home by St Johnstone.

Without suspended top scorer Alfredo Morelos, Rangers rarely tested former Ibrox goalkeeper Cammy Bell.They had Wes Foderingham, deputising for the suspended Allan McGregor, to thank for good saves from Chris Kane and Joe Shaughnessy.

And they had to make do with a second successive goalless draw.Steven Gerrard’s side have now gone six games without defeat, but the manager will have been looking for an improvement on last weekend’s Scottish Cup stalemate away to Kilmarnock as Celtic now have a chance to stretch their lead to eight points away to the Ayrshire side on Sunday.

Counterpart Tommy Wright will be pleased to see his side recover from a 5-0 thumping by Celtic to end a run of five defeats – four of them away from home – as they move to within five points of fifth-placed Hearts.

Rangers had won three in a row against Saints, scoring 11 goals in the process, since the Perth side won 3-1 at Ibrox in December 2017.But a tighter affair was always likely this time with both sides coming into the game without their main strikers and having drawn a blank in their previous outings.

Jermain Defoe overcame injury concerns to start as Morelos served the second of his three-match ban, while Kyle Lafferty was fit enough for the bench, but Rangers have proved to be a less potent force whenever they have had to make do without their top scorer.

Only a header from Connor Goldson tested Bell during the first half and even then it was straight at the man deputising for the injured Zander Clark.

Saints, without injured forwards Tony Watt and Michael O’Halloran, were subduing their hosts and threatening on the break, with lone striker Kane breaking clear only to be thwarted by goalkeeper Foderingham.

Daniel Candeias was prominent as Rangers attempted to force the issue after half-time and, when his dangerous low cross was pushed clear by Bell, a timely Jason Kerr interception denied Defoe before the winger himself lashed wastefully over.

Foderingham denied Saints the lead after a Liam Craig free-kick found the head of centre-half Joe Shaughnessy.St Johnstone came even closer five minutes later as David Wotherspoon picked out Alston as he darted beyond Worrall.

The midfielder looked up to see Foderingham off his line but was denied a spectacular winner as his lob hit the face of the bar before bouncing into the keeper’s grateful grasp.

Defoe had scored three times and been provider for one other goal in his four outings since joining Rangers on loan from Bournemouth, but it was the introduction of substitute Lafferty that added more potency in the latter stages.

However, a couple of snap shots from the Northern Ireland striker flashed wide as Rangers, for whom former Dundee midfielder Glen Kamara made his debut, had to settle for a point.

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