Rangers 3-0 St Mirren

ALFREDO MORELOS REAFFIRMED his commitment to the Rangers cause as he fired his first Scottish Premiership goals of 2020 in a 3-0 win over St Mirren at Ibrox.

Boss Steven Gerrard admitted the Lille target has had his “head turned” by interest from France following Gers’ Europa League defeat to Bayer Leverkusen on Thursday.

The striker was way off his best in Germany, continuing a slump that began with his Old Firm red card back in December.

But he looked more like his old self against the Buddies, firing in the cross which lured Conor McCarthy into a first-half own goal before adding a double after the break as he ended a drought which had seen him net just once in his previous 13 games.

Lille are reported to have failed with a fresh €18 million bid just last week and while he could yet still be heading for the Ibrox exit, Gerrard – whose team now have two wins from two – will want him to retain these levels while he remains part of his squad.

Rangers got the breakthrough their early dominance merited in the 23rd minute.

Saints failed to clear Borna Barisic’s corner but got legs in the way of shots from James Tavernier and Ryan Jack. However, they switched off as Glen Kamara fed the ball to Morelos, whose low cross was diverted into the net by McCarthy’s leg.

Saints almost grabbed an unlikely leveller moments after the restart as McLaughlin misjudged Durmas’ cross but Barisic got a vital block on Jamie McGrath’s follow-up shot.

Just as Rangers’ tempo began to drop, they gave themselves some breathing space after 69 minutes as Morelos headed home from Tavernier’s corner for the goal he had been longing for.

Having netted for the first time since February’s Scottish Cup win at Hamilton, it then took the Colombian just five minutes to add his second as he tapped home from Barisic’s deflected cross.

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