Rangers 3 St Johnstone 2 as last gasp Emerson Hyndman goal saves ten man Gers at Ibrox – 3 things we learned

Rangers moved back to within six points of second placed Aberdeen – but they came so close to throwing victory away in front of their own fans.

St Johnstone looked to have snatched a point after battling back from 2-0 down to level the score with four minutes left.

But man of the match Emerson Hyndman stepped up with a brilliant winner deep into injury time to ensure the three points stayed in Govan.

The pressure was on the Light Blues as they ran out at Ibrox after a run of three defeats and a draw in their last four league matches.

But caretaker Graeme Murty’s men looked a different side to the one which wilted in Dundee and Inverness as they set about the Perth side from the word go.

The opener arrived after 22 minutes from the boot of star man Barrie McKay. Hyndman was the creator as he skipped into the Saints’ box on got a shot away which was blocked into McKay’s path. The winger steadied himself and sent a low drive through a ruck of players and into Zander Clark’s bottom right hand corner.

That’s how it remained until four minutes into the second half when Martyn Waghorn’s glancing header looked to have Rangers on easy street.

But Saints substitute David Wotherspoon reduced the deficit with 16 minutes remaining when he fired a curling shot high into the Gers net.

And the pressure really cranked up on Gers when Rob Kiernan was red carded with 12 minutes to go for a needless two-footed lunge on Graham Cummins on the touchline.

Graeme Murty’s side looked to have thrown away another victory when Steven Anderson fired home from a corner with four minutes remaining.

But on-loan Bournemouth star Hyndman responded with a piece of magic to secure the points for Gers. Danny Wilson launched the ball forward to Hill, with his knockdown dropping for Hyndman 18 yards out.

The American chested the ball down and swivelled before hammering a low shot past Zander Clark.

THREE THINGS WE LEARNED:

Tie down McKay

Mark Warburton hasn’t left the new boss too much to work with for the long term but new deal for Barrie McKay should be the first order of business. The youngster is a top asset and needs to be tied down as he heads in to the last year of his contact.

Gers still sloppy

Rangers continue to self-harm at the back. They were lucky Saints were off the boil as other sides will punish slack possession and lapses in concentration. Switching off against Celtic a week on Saturday would be fatal again.

Saints frustration

Saints will be cursing themselves. They started sluggish but somehow got back in to the match and should have been able to see it out and snatch a point.