Thumped. Slaughtered. Battered. Walloped.

Are any of those words effective in describing tonight’s match?

Sadly, probably not.

In all honesty, we haven’t been playing well for the majority of the season and a result like this was overdue. Walter Smith decided to opt for the same team as the one which comfortably beat Hearts 4-1 at Tynecastle, however, the Champions lacked the urgency and tenacity which saw them ease to victory in the capital. Derek McIness’ impressive St Johnstone side, who now find themselves in a battle for top-six, contrasted the performance of Rangers as the Perth side possessed the same qualities which saw Rangers win at Hearts on Saturday. McIness went for the diamond midfield with Jody Morris dictating the tempo and Filipe Morais using his raw pace to support the attack of Kenny Deuchar and Cilian Sheridan.

The Saints started at a strong pace and took an early lead after just 7 minutes when on-loan Celtic striker Cilian Sheridan produced an excellent long-range effort which caught Allan McGregor cold and the ball rattled into the back of the net. St Johnstone were on the ascendancy and got the second goal after 12 minutes, Chris Millar had a shot at goal which deflected off the reliable Davie Weir and went past McGregor into the net. Rangers were stunned, and responded through Bosnian left-back Sasa Papac, who registered his second goal at McDiarmid Park this season with a neat finish from a tight angle. The Gers couldn’t build on that and St Johnstone gained control of the game with Morais the key to McIness game plan and causing the Rangers midfield huge problems. Liam Craig got the third goal after 36 minutes when his header deflected off Lee McCulloch and made it 3-1.

At half-time, Walter made two poor changes at half-time in my opinion. Lee McCulloch, as usual, remained on the pitch as Kevin Thomson was replaced by Maurice Edu. Kris Boyd, who would normally bag you an unexpected goal, was replaced by Kyle Lafferty, who really couldn’t buy a goal. Personally, I’d have brought on Beasley and Fleck mainly because we lacked the pace and the width that has been our achilles heel all season. The game suddenly quietened down a bit from the fast and furious first-half but Rangers simply couldn’t cut St Johnstone open that Michael Dubbery was a huge part of. Murray Davidson, a second-half substitute, got the second-goal when he dived into slide the ball past McGregor from a great cross.

Are Rangers beginning to crumble? Hopefully not. It isn’t time to press the panic button just yet, however, this result was coming and it emphasizes that we are still a poor side who need to improve over the summer.