Rangers 4-0 St Johnstone: Kevin Kelsy scores two, with Ryan Naderi and Tochi Chukwuani also on target as Rangers cut Celtic’s lead at the top
Report as Kevin Kelsy scores twice with Ryan Naderi and Tochi Chukwuani also on the scoresheet; Rangers beat St Johnstone 4-0 to cut Celtic’s lead at top of Scottish Premiership
Saturday 24 October 2026 21:09, UK
Kevin Kelsy scored twice on his return to the starting line-up as Rangers beat St Johnstone 4-0 to make it seven wins in eight league matches.
Kelsy opened the scoring in the first half when Ryan Naderi unselfishly squared to his strike partner to tap in after being played through by Minsu Kim.
St Johnstone made a triple substitution at the break and were on top when Naderi scored for Rangers against the run of play, bundling in after Toby Steward spilled a shot from Kim.
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The home side extended their lead further when Kelsy was on hand at the back post to divert a header from Emmanuel Fernandez into the net.
Substitute Tochi Chukwuani added gloss to the win with the fourth when he turned in Djeidi Gassama's cross to move Rangers one point behind Celtic, who travel to Edinburgh to take on Hibernian live on Sky Sports on Sunday.
What the managers said...
Rangers manager Derek McInnes:
"It's quite ironic in the sense that we were so good and so brilliant at times in the first half and created so many opportunities, that we were only a goal to the good at half-time.
"And obviously, we don't want to let the frustration of those missed opportunities and dominance filter into the second half.
"I think half-time came at a bad time for us because, despite the conditions, some of the play was really good.
"I asked the players to be brilliant today, not just win the game, can we really commit to being the best we can be, as good as we can be?
"And I thought we were in the first half. Everything was brilliant except the result at half-time because we should have been more in in front.
"We have no divine right to expect a 90-odd minute dominant performance, St Johnstone are a good side in their own right and they're doing well so.
"But it's ironic we score three goals second half when we were weren't as polished and as clean with our work.
"To score three goals in a second half where we weren't as good, in the first half we were completely dominant and very good and we only get the one.
"So there's lots of learnings for us here, but I actually think that you get your strikers scoring goals, a clean sheet and another win just chalked off on what was was a horrible day for everybody, it was just important that we won the game."
St Johnstone boss Simo Valakari:
"Rangers were very strong in the first half. They put us under a lot of pressure and got their goal.
"For 15 minutes in the second half we had momentum at 1-0 down.
"The logic of the situation is that if you don't take your chances the top teams will score, which they did.
"You can't ask for better chances than the ones we got in this match. You've got to hit the target and ask questions of the goalkeeper.
"That's the biggest disappointment we have from this match."
The key moments from Ibrox
15: CLOSE! Bouanani exchanges passes with Minsu and shoots just wide!
17: SAVE! Kelsy's powerful shot from outside of the area is just about turned behind by Steward!
23: SAVE! Minsu is played through but Steward comes out to block the shot.
29: GOAL! Naderi squares for Kelsy to tap home and give Rangers the lead!
32: CLOSE! Naderi lays the ball off for Minsu who hits the post from the edge of the area.
36: CLOSE! Fowler is played through but can only hit the side-netting with his shot.
39: SAVE! Kelsy and Naderi combine well in the area and Steward tips it over!
44: CLOSE! Minsu has a speculative effort that drifts just wide.
53: CLOSE! Ball played to the back post for Fotheringham but he can't keep his shot on target.
55: SAVE! Alic then shoots from all of 35 yards and it's tipped over!
62: GOAL! Minsu lets fly, the goalkeeper can't hold on to the ball and Naderi is there to bundle it in.
67: GOAL! Fenandez nods a header towards the back post and Kelsy is lurking to slot in Rangers' third of the afternoon.
74: RED CARD! Fotheringham catches Raskin on the follow through and after being advised to take a second look, the referee shows the substitute a straight red card.
87: GOAL! The substitutes combine well. Gassama gets to the byline and cuts back for Chukwuani to score.
