BARRY FERGUSON demanded five wins from his stuttering side.
And it was symptomatic of their season that they let him down at the first time of asking.
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The Ibrox interim boss’s record now reads four wins in 11 games – and once again he could have no complaints as he watched another game slip away after his side were twice in winning positions.
Cyriel Dessers put Rangers in front before home skipper Mark O’Hara levelled just before the break.
Nico Raskin put the visitors back in front but sub Conor McMenamin got Saints a deserved leveller.
It was the latest in a series of pedestrian, error-strewn displays that Rangers supporters have become familiar with – and which admittedly pre-date Ferguson’s arrival in February.
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THE VERDICT
HOW THEY RATED
ST MIRREN: Zach Hemming 6, Marcus Fraser 6, Richard Taylor 6, Alex Gogic 6, Ryan Alebiosu 6, Mark O’Hara 6, Caolan Boyd-Munce 5, Killian Phillips 6, Declan John 6, Mikael Mandron 5, Jonah Ayunga 5
Subs : Conor McMenamin (Ayunga 62) 5; Roland Idowu (Boyd-Munce 62) 4; Scott Tanser (John 80) 3; Owen Oseni (Mandron 90) 1
RANGERS: Liam Kelly 6, John Souttar 4, Robin Propper 6, Clinton Nsiala 4, James Tavernier 7, Nico Raskin 7, Bailey Rice 8, Mohamed Diomande 6, Jefte 5, Hamza Igamane 3, Cyriel Dessers 6
Subs : Vaclav Cerny (Dessers 76) 4; Connor Barron (Rice 84) 2; Nedim Bajrami (Nsiala 86) 1
MAN OF THE MATCH: Being man of this scrappy game isn’t one for anyone’s CV but the youngest player on the pitch was also the best – Rangers’ kid Bailey Rice was one of the few who found room in midfield and consistently tried to use the ball with imagination. The teenager always looked to be creative and in these turbulent times for his club, there are worse prospects to represent Rangers’ future.
MAN IN THE MIDDLE: This was only Colin Steven’s second Premiership game in three months. He’s clearly not rated among the S.F.A.’s top officials and it’s easy to see why. He’d to keep an eye on a niggly midfield tussle between Nico Raskin and Killian Phillips which ended with both being booked in separate incidents. He then infuriated the home support when he let Raskin away with flattening Gogic. Also booked home defenders Taylor and Gogic.
MEN IN THE DUGOUT: If he has to stand and watch much more of this stuff from his team, Barry Ferguson’s dark hair will either be grey or gone. He must have turned to his dug-out in exasperation half-a-dozen times in the first-half and the second-half was more of the same. For Saints, it was an identikit Stephen Robinson battling performance which saw them twice come from behind to salvage a point.
The Hall of Famer will know better than anyone that the majority of the players he picked yesterday are a long way short of being good enough to challenge champions Celtic.
The defence, against powerful strikers, was as paper-thin as it’s been for most of the season.
The midfield – the smooth-moving Bailey Rice and the hard-working Nico Raskin apart – was mediocre.
And up front?
Put it this way. How Ferguson could take Dessers off and leave the misfiring explorer of blind alleys Hamza Igamane on was borderline incomprehensible.
None of which should take anything away from a St Mirren side who were aiming to make it three wins over Rangers in succession.
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Stephen Robinson’s side were what Stephen Robinson sides are – grafters who got in their opponents’ faces from start to finish.
They more than merited their point and would’ve won it had they punished a sloppy Rangers defence more.
Interim Ibrox boss Ferguson made four changes from the side that lost to Athletic Bilbao in the Europa League nine days before.
Crocks Leon Balogun and Ridvan Yilmaz were absent and Vaclav Cerny and Ianis Hagi dropped to the bench, with Clinton Nsiala, Robin Propper, Igamane and Bailey Rice coming in.
Mikael Mandron for Houston Dynamo-bound Toyosi Olusanya was the only Saints change.
The early exchanges were exactly as supporters of both sides had become accustomed to, with Saints cagey but lively on the break and Dessers missing a great chance at the other end.
Saints were presented with a great opening when John Souttar hesitated in possession and home skipper O’Hara robbed him and accelerated clear – only to send his weak pass straight to the feet of the back-tracking Rangers defender.
At the other end, Mohamed Diomade found Dessers with a clever run but the striker – who said pre-match he had a target of 25 goals this season – blazed his left-foot effort yards over the top.
Scotland goalkeeper coach Chris Woods was at the SMISA Stadium and he would have been unimpressed to see squad goalkeeper Liam Kelly scuff his pass to Nsiala, who promptly did the same – an incident typical of the untidy opening to the game.
This was underlined when Propper and Souttar collided and both required treatment, then Souttar was turned by Jonah Ayunga and went down in the box under Raskin’s tackle – but ref Colin Steven was unimpressed by Saints’ claims for a penalty.
However the home side should have been ahead shortly before the half-hour when more terrible defending by Kelly presented St Mirren with a great chance.
His attempted pass was intercepted by Mandron and he looked to have a simple task to roll the ball into the unguarded net – but he went for power and blazed the chance wildly over.
It was a horror miss but the home side engineered another chance when Richard Taylor’s pass sent Mandron down the left and his cross was fired past the near post by Killian Phillips.
Saints were gradually asserting themselves but it was the visitors who went ahead four minutes before the break, thanks to Propper’s quick break out of defence.
He broke up a Saints attack then pushed the ball forward for Raskin who found Dessers, who fired a left-foot drive low past Zach Hemming from the edge of the box.
But the lukewarm cheers that had greeted the goal from the travelling support were still echoing around the stadium when Saints levelled.
Phillips’ long throw-in wasn’t dealt with by the Rangers defence and the ball fell to O’Hara, who drilled home from ten yards.
However Rangers regained the lead seven minutes into the second-half when Raskin gathered Diomande’s pass and as the home defence back-tracked, he fired a low left-footer past Hemming.
But so dodgy was the Rangers defence that it was inevitable that they would present St Mirren with another opportunity and it came along when Souttar was again caught in possession and Phillips flicked the ball into the path of Mandron.
He swept in on goal and tried to place the ball past the out-rushing Kelly but the Gers keeper saved with an outstretched foot.
Saints also had a penalty check when the hard-working Phillips went down under Nsiala’s challenge – but VAR Grant Irvine ruled it outside the box.
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However they got the leveller they deserved when Mandron’s strength again caused Souttar problems and when Declan John’s cross came over, sub Conor McMenamin slid it in – with the goal ratified by a VAR check.
Rangers tried to snatch victory and introduced Vaclav Cerny but the Czech’s drive from Raskin’s pass which Hemming palmed away was as close as they came to winning it.
