Van Bronckhorst: Rangers should have scored more against St Mirren

Giovanni van Bronckhorst believes Rangers’ 2-0 win over St Mirren at Ibrox should have been more emphatic.

In front on an attendance capped at 500 due to government restrictions amid on-going Covid concerns, first-half goals from Scott Wright and Alfredo Morelos – his sixth in eight games under the Dutchman – kept the Gers six points ahead of Old Firm rivals Celtic at the top of the cinch Premiership going into the winter break.

Van Bronckhorst has won eight and drawn one of his nine games since taking over from Steven Gerrard but claims the win over the Buddies should have had a scoreline more reflective of the champions’ superiority.

He said: “I am very pleased. It was the last game before the break, I am happy with the performance. It was very controlled, defensively very good.

“We didn’t give any chances away only in the last 10 or 15 minutes when we lost the ball a little bit too fast.

“But we created a lot of chances, we did well and I think the scoreline needed to be more, if you see all the chances we created.

“We hit the post, we had some chances and could have scored more and the intention was there to keep going and create chances and try to score more goals but it didn’t happen for us in the second half.

“But I am happy with the win, happy with the zero and we can go into the break in the place we want, have a good rest and start over again in two weeks.

“We have two weeks to prepare for the Aberdeen game but also get our message across even more to the players, the way we want to play against different systems and situations. We have more time to become better and improve our game.”

Saints had 11 players missing with Covid issues against Celtic in midweek and still managed to battle to a creditable goalless draw but, although Jim Goodwin’s side were much stronger for facing the other side of the Old Firm, they never looked like causing another upset.

Goodwin described Rangers as “excellent” but was disappointed with the manner of the goals conceded and now looks forward to a reset during the winter break.

He said: “I think barring one or two managers who are on a good run of form we are all desperate for a break now.

“It has been an extremely challenging fortnight for our club.

“I don’t think I have ever looked forward to a break as much in my life.

“I don’t think many people would have expected us to take a point from the games against Rangers and Celtic given all that has gone on.

“The fact we have only conceded two goals is also incredible.

“Obviously we don’t like losing any games but what we have had to deal with over the past two weeks we will take the point out of the two games and move on.”