Rangers secured their first win over St Mirren in more than a year to end 2025 within six points of Scottish Premiership leaders Hearts and within three of Celtic before Saturday’s second Old Firm game of the season in the league.
Goals in each half from Thelo Aasgaard – his second in as many games – and Emmanuel Fernandez subdued a St Mirren side who were looking for consecutive victories at Ibrox for the first time in their history.
The League Cup winners got a goal back with 10 minutes left when Mikael Mandron headed in after home keeper Jack Butland had saved well from Miguel Freckleton.
And that left the Paisley side rueing a missed penalty shortly before when captain Marcus Fraser’s tame effort was easily saved by Butland after the video assistant referee (VAR) officials spotted a handball.
The visitors also blew a wonderful opportunity to level shortly after half-time following a mistake from the returning Rangers defender John Souttar, with Butland saving well from Mandron, who seemed set to score.
That came after Aasgaard’s fine header from Jayden Meghoma’s cross had given Rangers a deserved lead at the interval, and just before a cross at the other end found Fernandez unmarked able to steer the ball past Shamal George.
The goalkeeper had to be alert earlier on, tipping an acutely angled Mikey Moore volley onto the bar, and diverting a deflected Djeidi Gassama shot past a post.
The Ibrox side’s evening could have been even more comfortable had Nico Raskin not missed a glorious early chance, although prior to that, Butland had saved well from Jayden Richardson.
The win means Danny Rohl’s side have momentum to take to Celtic Park at the weekend, where a win would draw them level on points with the defending champions.
The defeat is St Mirren’s first in six matches and is unlikely to spoil the the League Cup winners memories of an outstanding 2025.
Rangers were right at it from the off, showing energy and enterprise.
Much-maligned striker Youssef Chermiti was a good focal point and held the ball up well, enjoying arguably his best game in a blue jersey.
Behind him, Raskin and Mohamed Diomande had no problem controlling things in midfield.
And when things weren’t going so well, there was always Butland as a reliable last line of defence. His penalty save was crucial, as were several other interventions.
Rangers could and should have had more goals but were never really able to relax because of the defensive frailties which have caused them problems this season. Thankfully for the hosts, St Mirren weren’t able to capitalise.
The visitors were pretty much always in the game and created chances, but just couldn’t find the necessary quality when it mattered.
The late goal gave St Mirren hope but they’ll look back on several spurned chances, not least Fraser’s spot-kick. You can’t miss penalties at Ibrox and expect to end up on the winning side.
Given they’ve ended the year with silverware, though, nobody will be too harsh on the them for ending 2025 with a defeat.
Rangers head coach Danny Rohl tells BBC Scotland: “Not an easy one. We played 75 minutes a very good game, very controlled in both directions. Then we concede from a corner and it’s difficult. In the end we are happy and can carry on.
“It’s not about two, three, four games – it’s about 10 and 11. We have to perform again and again consistently. At the moment we are doing this.
“I can see steps forwards from my group. I want to give Youssef today great credit – a great performance. He gives us exactly what he need. He is on the last line, he can keep the ball, he can link play, all those things.
“We won. We are happy. We took the next small step on our long journey.”
St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson tells BBC Scotland: “Real frustration with the two goals. We spoke about it and worked on the threat Fernandez has and we made two poor decisions for both goals.
“I didn’t think Shamal had a whole lot to do and Jack Butland was man of the match. I thought we were excellent second half. Once we started believing, we dominated large parts of the game without Rangers being a major threat.”
Rangers cross the Clyde on Saturday, 3 January (12:00 GMT) to first-foot city rivals Celtic for their first Premiership game of 2026.
St Mirren are also on the road again, with a trip to in-form Motherwell for their first league fixture of the New Year on Saturday (15:00 GMT).
