RANGERS WERE IN danger of losing further ground in the race for the Scottish Premiership title after Steven Gerrard’s side were held to a shock goalless draw at home to St Johnstone on Saturday.
The Ibrox stalemate did see Rangers cut arch Glasgow rivals Celtic’s lead at the top of the table to five points but the reigning champions could go eight clear with victory at Kilmarnock on Sunday.
Rangers substitute Kyle Lafferty hit a post late on for the hosts but the visitors also hit the woodwork 11 minutes from time when a Blair Alston lob bounced back off the crossbar.
Third-placed Aberdeen failed to make the most of Rangers dropping two points, with the Dons were held to a 2-2 draw by basement club St Mirren.
The Buddies took a 20th-minuted lead through a Duckens Nazon penalty after Paul McGinn was brought down in the box by Sam Cosgrove.
Lewis Ferguson headed in an equaliser for the Dons after 32 minutes but St Mirren restored their lead through Kyle McAllister on the hour mark.
Aberdeen levelled for a second time when Cosgrove volleyed home a cross from Andrew Shinnie in the 77th minute but the draw left the Dons five points adrift of Rangers.
Elsewhere, Paul Heckingbottom’s first game in charge of Hibernian ended in a 2-0 victory at home to Hamilton
The former Barnsley manager was handed a three-and-a-half-year contract on Wednesday following the exit of the controversial Neil Lennon from the Edinburgh club.
Florian Kamberi opened the scoring 17 minutes into the action at Easter Road and Hibs, who had lost their previous two matches, doubled their lead thanks to Marc McNulty’s 39th-minute penalty after Lennard Sowah bundled over David Gray in the box.
Meanwhile Dundee leapfrogged Hamilton into 10th place with a 2-1 win away at 10-man Livingston.
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