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By CALUM CROWE Published: 09: 34 AEDT, 31 December 2025 | Updated: 09: 38 AEDT, 31 December 2025 View comments Just over a week ago, on the back of a 2-1 defeat against league leaders Hearts at Tynecastle, any notion of Rangers mounting a title challenge this season felt fanciful at best. It was a result which left Danny Rohl’s side 12 points adrift. Hearts were surging clear, Celtic finally looked like they were getting their act together, and Rangers looked dead and buried. Well, what a difference a week makes. Perhaps we should have known not to make any bold proclamations or predictions this early in what has already been the most remarkable of seasons. Make no mistake, Rangers will still have a say in this title race, all right. In the space of nine days, they have cut the gap to Hearts in half and are now only six points behind. With Celtic crashing to another calamitous defeat at Motherwell, Rangers are also now only three points behind their bitter rivals heading into this weekend’s Old Firm clash. Rangers may well be clinging on, but their ability to keep churning out results means they cannot yet be discounted. A three-way title race is now becoming a very real proposition. Danny Rohl embraces James Tavernier at the final whistle after victory over St Mirren Rohl gets his message across to Nico Raskin during the Premiership clash at Ibrox Thelo Aasgaard heads Rangers in front against St Mirren, his second goal in two matches Rangers got the victory thanks to goals from Thelo Aasgaard and Manny Fernandez, ensuring they profited from Celtic’s latest blunder as well as Hearts being inactive. Rohl’s side have good momentum behind them heading into what will be their biggest game of the season at Celtic Park on Saturday lunchtime. The Ibrox manager will also be heartened by the performance of the likes of Aasgaard, who netted his second goal in as many games. Youssef Chermiti also enjoyed his best game in a Rangers jersey, showing good touch and composure in the way he linked the play for his team. Rohl made two changes to the team that beat Motherwell 1-0 on Saturday. John Souttar made his first start since early November after recovering from a muscle injury, with Mikey Moore also coming back into the side. Connor Barron and Dujon Sterling were the two players to drop out purely in an effort to manage their game time, with both expected to return for the derby at the weekend. Thelo Aasgaard celebrates after putting Rangers on their way to victory at Ibrox St Mirren, meanwhile, also made two changes on the back of Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Kilmarnock. Jayden Richardson and Mikael Mandron came in to replace Conor Mc Menamin and Dan Nlundulu. The Buddies would have arrived at Ibrox in confident mood - and not solely based on their League Cup triumph against Celtic a couple of weeks ago. Stephen Robinson’s men had actually gone unbeaten in their last four matches against Rangers, a run spanning the entire calendar year of 2025. There was a minute’s silence prior to kick-off in memory of those who lost their lives in the Ibrox disaster on January 2, 1971. It had been impeccably observed until the final few moments, when an utterly moronic individual in the away end screamed out: ‘Come on you Saints’. The opening 20 minutes passed by with neither side managing to create anything clear-cut on what was a bitterly cold night in Govan. With Bojan Miovski missing out due to illness, it was Chermiti who was asked to lead the line for Rangers and he would go on to enjoy a productive night. Rangers sparked into life around 25 minutes when Djeidi Gassama burst away down the right flank and pulled the ball back into the box. Nico Raskin timed his run well but skewed his shot wide of the target. In the context of the game, it already felt like it could well be a big chance. Much has been made of Raskin’s performances this season, most notably his pitiful display in the recent defeat to Hearts at Tynecastle. But the same could be said of Mohamed Diomande. There was a moment in the first half where the Ivorian midfielder was brushed off the ball by Miguel Freckleton with embarrassing ease. Emmanuel Fernandez grabs the crucial second goal for Rangers in their 2-1 victory Saints striker Jonah Ayunga was forced off with an injury late in the first half, and the fact he took an unfathomably long time to dawdle around and leave the pitch almost angered the home crowd into life. Only a couple of minutes after Ayunga had gone off, Rangers took the lead from a well-worked set-play out on the right. From a short corner, James Tavernier and Jayden Meghoma exchanged passes before Meghoma swung in a good cross. Fresh off the back of scoring the winner against Motherwell at the weekend, there was Aasgaard to glance a header beyond Saints keeper Shamal George. Rangers very nearly made it a quickfire double when a speculative shot from Moore was fumbled unconvincingly on to the crossbar by George. With their team leading 1-0 at the half-time break, there was a cheer among the Rangers fans when it was announced that Celtic were losing by the same scoreline away at Motherwell. But St Mirren were far from out of this. Jack Butland was called into action early in the second half when he had to make a smart save to deny Mandron. For all that Chermiti may lack the threat of a true goalscorer, he was actually playing fairly well last night and he created the second goal for Rangers on 52 minutes. Emmanuel Fernandez celebrates. .. now Rangers face an Old Firm derby against Celtic He swung in a cross from the left and the ball found its way to Fernandez at the back post. He cushioned a volley on target, but Saints keeper George was poor in the way he allowed the ball to squirm underneath him. Rangers were cruising towards victory until St Mirren were awarded a penalty with 15 minutes to play after referee Ryan Lee was alerted by the VAR to a handball by Fernandez. Saints skipper Marcus Fraser stepped up but never looked convincing. His run-up was too long and too stuttered, and his penalty was easily saved by Butland. But, despite fluffing their line from 12 yards, the visitors did tee-up a nervy finale when Mandron bundled home from close range with only eight minutes remaining. In the end, Rangers held on. They were good value for the win and a few cheers went up at full-time once the result at Fir Park was announced. The title race is well and truly back on.

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