Rangers 1-0 St Mirren: Jermain Defoe strikes as Rangers ease past St Mirren with Steven Gerrard's side returning from winter break in comfortable win

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Twelve months ago, Rangers came skidding out of the Premiership's winter break and suffered a pratfall from which they never recovered.

This sure-footed if mundane victory can therefore be considered a form of progress. It wasn't in any way flamboyant. Fireworks didn't sparkle over the Govan skyline. But it was 90 minutes of largely composed and methodical football free of any significants errors. The contrast with that dismal collapse at Rugby Park in January 2019 was clear.

This year, momentum from an Old Firm victory has at least been maintained into the second half of the season. Another little foundation stone has been laid towards the construction of lasting title challenge.

Rangers eased to a comfortable 1-0 victory over St Mirren at Ibrox on Wednesday night

Veteran striker Jermain Defoe's 34th minute strike was enough to separate the two sides

Still two points behind Celtic with a game in hand, Steven Gerrard's will have to tick off many more games like this in the weeks and months ahead. St Mirren won't be the last team to stick ten, or even eleven, men behind the ball once they assemble on the Ibrox pitch. As Gerrard admitted on Tuesday, it is up to Rangers to find the answers and prove they have what it takes to hang around the top-flight summit.

Jermain Defoe's 16th goal of the season made the difference here. Tucking away a first-half snapshot, the 37-year-old did what was necessary as Alfredo Morelos continued to serve his suspension.

That strike wasn't the prelude to a glut of further opportunities. Rangers did more huffing and puffing rather than actually blowing down the black-and-white defensive wall constructed by Jim Goodwin. Even so, nerves at the other end were minimal. Allan McGregor reached full-time without having to make a save.

The 37-year-old's goal was his 16th of the season as Rangers continue their title charge

Things promise to be a little more heated when the Ibrox men head to Tynecastle on Sunday. St Mirren, still tenth, host Aberdeen earlier that day.

There was a touch of prudence in Gerrard's team selection. Youngster Nathan Patterson was benched after making his debut in Friday night's Scottish Cup win over Stranraer, with the grittier presence of Jon Flanagan preferred at right-back.

It was only a third start of the season for the ex-Liverpool man. His inclusion was one of two change from last month at Celtic Park, alongside Defoe's replacement of the banned Morelos.

Goodwin had quipped about parking 'two buses' across the Ibrox pitch. It turned out he wasn't kidding.

Ryan Flynn dropped deeper to become a right wing-back as the Paisley outfit set up in what they hoped would be a space-strangling 5-4-1 shape.

It wasn't the most glamorous performance but the Gers were largely composed throughout

Unfortunately, the personnel within had to change inside seven minutes. Skipper Kyle Magennis required an extended period of treatment near the left-sided touchline before being stretchered off in obvious discomfort. His place went to Ilkay Durmus.

Deep-lying, defensive discipline was clearly the prime order. As such, there were fair chunks of the first half when McGregor was the sole player in the Rangers half while his outfield colleagues sought to chip away at layers of resistance.

They would find a way through before the interval but the task required no little patience. Goodwin has instilled an obvious organisation in a group of players who buzzed tirelessly to try and close passing lanes and match runners.

The visitors' attacking threat was minimal. Jon Obika did get himself on the wrong side of Connor Goldson early on - at least from the defender's point of view - to burrow into the penalty area and pull back a hopeful cross. Cammy MacPherson gathered but ran out of space before his eventual shot from the acutest of angles was blocked behind by Niko Katic.

Steven Gerrard will be pleased his side extended their winning run following the winter break

From there, the narrative became about steadily increasing Rangers pressure.. Given no gifts, Gerrard's side had work carefully to find ways to threaten Vaclav Hladky.

Winning corners looked a potentially profitable route. Ryan Kent delivered one that Katic almost planted with similar force to the winning header at Parkhead. This time it was just too high, though, prompting the Croatian to shake a fist in frustration.

Kent then speared through the five-man defence, nimbly executing a one-two with Joe Aribo before seeing a low shot thwarted by the spreading figure of Hladky.

St Mirren was perhaps fortunate to escape when Akin Famewo tugged Connor Goldson's jersey at another corner. That set-piece had been won by Borna Barisic spinning Flynn into the turf and the Croatian left-back was again involved at the 35th minute breakthrough.

The slight irony was that it arrived from one of Barisic's poorer struck deliveries. A slightly scuffed cross cannoned off Junior Morais to fall invitingly for Defoe. No second invitation was needed. The ball was beyond Hladky in a flash as the 37-year-old notched his 16th of the season.

Gerrard will hope his side can maintain the momentum from the Old Firm win for the run in 

Gerrard wanted a second to quickly follow and it almost arrived in stoppage time. Famewo was a touch lucky to be able to knock into Hladky's hands after the lively Aribo threatened to turn in a Goldson header.

The second half didn't witness any real increase in tempo nor any change to the flow of the game. Rangers attacked, without particular inspiration, while Saints still required binoculars to get a good look at McGregor.

Set-pieces again appeared an avenue of promise. Steven Davis dinked in a free kick that Katic met powerfully on the angle. The ball zipped just wide of the far post as Defoe sought to close in for a snip.

St Mirren never threw their considerable caution to the wind, but did cause one moment of jitters for the Ibrox crowd as the minutes ticked away. Conor McCarthy managed to get a glancing header onto MacPherson's accurate free-kick, but the effort drifted beyond McGregor's left-hand post.

Ibrox became edgy as the slender scoreline persisted towards four minutes of added time.

Sheyi Ojo attempted to apply balm with an imaginative effort that dropped fractionally wide before Defoe was denied with the very last kick. As it was, enough had been done.