We enjoyed plenty of possession, but weren't able to do a lot with it. As per usual, the final ball was lacking and Rangers keeper Allan McGregor had little to do. Rangers created a few more chances and, more importantly, took two of them when they came along.
We're all used to bizarre team line-ups and sure enough we had a couple of odd changes tonight. Garry Brady somehow kept his place, with Steven Robb dropping out and David Barron taking over in defence. Even more bizarre was starting Michael Higdon in place of David Weir. The rest of the team stayed the same, while Rangers managed to patch Nacho Novo and Kenny Miller up just enough to start.
There are bad starts, then there are starts like Saints usually make to games against Rangers. Tonight was another fine example. After a brief Saints attack, Rangers launched one of their own with Kyle Lafferty playing a ball for the offside looking Steven Davis to run on to. The flag stayed down, Davis ran forward and slotted it away even though Gallacher got a touch. Time gone? Less than two minutes.
One of John Potter's aimless hoofs up the park almost bore fruit in terms of an equaliser, although Billy Mehmet's header never looked like finding the target, and neither did an effort from miles out by Barron. Justy when it looked as if we were beginning to gain a foothold in the game, Kyle Lafferty struck a tame shot into the arms of Gallacher. Lee McCulloch almost found joy with a far harder effort moments later, only for it to smack against the crossbar and be knocked behind by Jack Ross.
It was nice to see Saints pushing, attacking and occasionally playing some decent football, but the defence was becoming increasingly exposed. A typical Saints free-kick allowed Rangers to counter attack and when John Potter messed up his attempt to clear Miller's cross, Davis pounced to fire in a shot that Gallacher had to look sharp to keep out.
For once, the set pieces were looking dangerous from the Saints players, although the Rangers defence seemed to be specialising in dealing with the ball in the nick of time. Five minutes before the break they didn't, allowing Mehmet a decent sight of goal - only for him to duff it over.
The second half started with Rangers threatening and Steven Whittaker almost doubled the lead, his drive flashing just past Gallacher's far post. Saints went even closer seconds later when Higdon chested the ball into the path of the onrushing Brady, but he could only fire into the side netting when he should at least have forced Allan McGregor into a save. He was called into action soon after when Dorman whipped in a cross that turned into a decent shot, only for McGregor to palm it behind. In what was beginning to turn into an end contest, Rangers quickly attacked and Gallacher did well to keep out Lafferty's fierce effort.
It was a pretty open game at this stage and Saints had another great chance to equalise when Brady got to the byline and crossed for Mehmet, but he messed up his header and the ball went behind with the goal gaping. Fortunately, Novo then managed to miss from an even better position as he completely missed the target when a couple of yards out.
It was a much improved performance compared to recent weeks but, as usual, we were struggling to do anything constructive once we got to the final third. Rangers were too, but with five minutes left we gifted them the chance to wrap things up. Barron was caught daydreaming when he should have dealt with a ball from Davis and as a result Novo was able to gather the ball and charge towards goal before shooting home with the help of the post.
We maybe didn't deserve to lose by two, but we hadn't created enough chances to really claim we deserved to take a point. It was a better performance than recent weeks, but that wouldn't be difficult. There is still plenty of room for improvement, and it must happen quickly as we have some tough games coming up.