St Mirren 0-3 Rangers: Fashion Sakala scores excellent brace to end Gers’ season in style as Micheal Beale’s side finish second in the Scottish Premiership behind rivals Celtic
- Rangers defeated St Mirren 3-0 at The SMISA Stadium on Saturday afternoon
- Fashion Sakala scored a stunning run of goals to give the Gers a 2-0 lead
- Antonio Colak completed the third goal to seal the 3-0 victory for the away side
Fashion Sakala picked up a double as Rangers signed their Premiership season cinch with a 3-0 win over St Mirren at Paisley.
Both teams had little to play for, but the Gers striker was determined to leave a lasting impression in the campaign. He scored on a solo run on 26 minutes before adding a second just after the break with a similar run and finish.
Newly fit Croatia striker Antonio Colak climbed off the Rangers bench to score a third in the 77th minute as the Ibrox side – who finished second to champions Celtic – enjoyed a comfortable final to their trophyless season.
Boss Michael Beale, who took over from Giovanni Van Bronckhorst last November, has already begun revamping the team he hopes can overcome the treble chase. Celtic and Gers supporters will welcome a very different team into the new season – but expectations will remain as high as ever.
Saints had reached the top six for the first time under the current league format, but had failed to win in their previous six matches.
However, manager Stephen Robinson had stressed that the season had been a success and the latest affair saw a league debut for goalkeeper Peter Urminsky and midfielder Coalan Boyd-Munce and forward Lewis Jamieson’s first start of the season.
For the visitors, goalkeeper Robby McCrorie replaced the outgoing Allan McGregor, with midfielders Ryan Jack and Ianis Hagi and striker Rabbi Matondo as the starting player.
Buddies defender Ryan Strain went off injured after just six minutes and – before being replaced by Marcus Fraser – Matondo curled a shot from the edge of the penalty area that just escaped Urminsky’s left post.
Sakala’s goal came as he took a pass from left back Ridvan Yilmaz, slalomed through the Saints penalty area past a pair of black and white shirts before his shot hit Paisley defender Scott Tanser and stumbled over the line. The visiting fans on the other side of the pitch seemed to take their time before they realized the ball was in the net.
Moments later McCrorie made a decent save from captain Mark O’Hara’s header before the Rangers goalkeeper was caught by Curtis Main as he went for a Jamieson cross, the Paisley striker was booked by referee Matthew MacDermid for his issues.
Less than three minutes into the restart, Sakala added a second, again coming in from the left to evade tackles and this time his low drive was clean and powerful as the ball raced past Urminsky.
St Mirren slowly started to work their way into the game, pushing Rangers back and giving them some defensive work.
Beale made a quadruple substitution in the 67th minute to bring in Adam Devine, Borna Barasic, Scott Arfield and Colak, while skipper James Tavernier, Yilmaz, Hagi and Sakala made way.
The changes did little to detract from the Buddies who worked hard to get a lifeline into the game.
However, after shooting a drive wide of goal from outside the box, Colak hammered the ball in from close range, after Todd Cantwell’s corner kick was clicked in from the right by Nicolas Raskin, before earning the acclaim of the Rangers supporters behind the goal got. .