24/08/2025 – RANGERS (H)

Leaving the ground on Sunday following this 1-1 draw against Rangers, we noticed a number of disappointed faces and grumbling about how we had dropped 2 points to the Glasgow side.

We shared this frustration, as over 90 minutes we were the better side without doubt, and only a lucky, doubly deflected late goal, prevented victory over a side that had spent £20 million during the summer.

Before a ball was kicked, we couldn’t find a Saints fan who thought we’d lose or a Rangers fan who believed they would leave Paisley with 3 points, so again this feeling of disappointment wasn’t a knee jerk reaction and there was an expectation that we would get points on Sunday.

Let’s put all of that into perspective as it’s utterly astonishing!

On the 10th April 2022, Stephen Robinson faced Rangers for the first time in Paisley, the manager shuffling the imbalanced squad he had inherited outside of a transfer window 2 months beforehand from Jim Goodwin, and a struggling Saints team was soundly beaten 4-0.

Fast forward to August 2025, and the draw on Sunday represents a 4 match unbeaten run against Rangers, with 2 victories and 2 draws in that sequence, and is on the back of Saints taking 7 points from the Ibrox club last season, more than any other side.

In terms of budget, Saints have probably no right to expect to beat Rangers, but that’s how far we have come in just over 3 years under the manager, and such is the belief in him and his players that we fear nobody and we are justifiably a bit deflated after only drawing with Rangers!

Years from now, we are likely to look back on these times and think “Wow, were we good”. These are great days to be following our club, enjoy it!

The match itself followed a pretty expected pattern for most people, with the exception of journalists and TV pundits who still see St Mirren dominating against Rangers for more than a full half of football as a “shock”.

Saints started at a high tempo and Rangers couldn’t cope. We harried and forced them into mistakes, we thundered into tackles leaving the visitors in no doubt whose house they were in, and played some excellent football, carving out some big chances.

It was and always is beautiful to watch, so ignore the predictable rantings of the inferior Sutton brother on Sky Sports, there is nothing “ugly” about how St Mirren play, and I suspect he still holds a grudge about John being “better than Chris”.

The Saints goal when it came, was a thing of beauty. Marcus Fraser dissected the Rangers midfield by chipping an exquisite pass to Mandron, who brought it under his spell before slipping a glorious through ball to Ayunga who expertly fended off Souttar, drew out Butland, and then curled the ball into the net.

If that is “ugly” then we are going to demand a complete ugly festival for the rest of the season.

A second goal would have finished it off, and multiple times in the remainder of the first half we found ourselves working the ball into great positions, but just couldn’t find the killer pass.

The second half started in a similar way, and Ayunga almost doubled the lead with a great run and low shot that Butland eventually held, but the key chance was a pounding run by Richardson that brought him into the box but his final ball lacked accuracy, with 2 Saints men free in the box and a massive opening squandered.

As happened last week against Hearts however, Saints began to tire around the hour mark, and for the first time Rangers looked to have a bit of momentum without creating anything.

Similarly to Hearts again, a set piece would be Saints undoing when a Rangers corner was cleared to the edge of the box where youngster Finlay Curtis fired in a shot that took 2 deflections to beat Shamal George, with 12 minutes remaining.

It was the second league goal Saints had lost all season, and the second late goal deflected past George, the other being at Parkhead of course on the opening day.

Gogic then almost won it for Saints for a looping header that Butland just managed to turn over, but we had to settle for the draw in the end, which leaves us without a win in our 3 matches, however we were 2 unlucky deflected late goals away taking another 4 points from both sides of the Glasgow silliness.

We’ve had a tough start, but we’ve played very well and the optimism for the season we had before a ball was kicked remains as high as ever. We believe this team can achieve something special this season, starting at Easter Road on Sunday.

If you can, get through to Leith and roar the team to victory!

COYS!

Rangers Players of the Match:

5 points – Jonah Ayunga

3 points – Marcus Fraser

1 point – Shamal George

Check our the Player of the Season race here –

PLAYER OF THE SEASON 2025/26