It was originally billed in the press as the ‘game of the weekend’ as third placed St Mirren made the trip to Ibrox Stadium on Sunday afternoon to face Rangers, who occupy second spot, but there was no way the Gers faithful would have accepted anything other than victory from this one.
As fans will know themselves, there was a very good reason for being confident and having that kind of outlook ahead of the match, and you only had to look at the more recent form guides of both clubs to know why. We have been resurgent since Philippe Clement walked through the door and replaced former gaffer Michael Beale, and he has now won seven of his ten games in charge, and more importantly, we are also unbeaten. For those fans who like a flutter, few would have thought our new boss would have that kind of impact, and let us be honest, when we dabble with new Aussie casinos we would all like to be as successful as he has been from the off.
St Mirren on the other hand started the season fantastically well, but they have only registered two victories in their last eight games ahead of Sunday’s tie, and not only has their own form bottomed out of late, history was not on their side either. The Buddies have not won a single game at Ibrox since 1991, with 21 of their 23 visits in all competitions since ending with a defeat.
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Although Clement did lose his winning streak in our last match with Aberdeen, the performance itself did have positives, whereas St Mirren have now lost the last three on the spin, so again, no one was contemplating a hiccup and a lack of three points here – and the squad did not disappoint, ultimately taking a pretty comfortable 2-0 win, but given our dominance in the game and the overall chances we had, the only real disappointment from the 90 minutes was in the fact that we did not further improve our goal advantage.
Although the visitors tried to make life as difficult and hard as they could for us, Abdallah Sima scored at almost the perfect time to rock them as we took the advantage just on the stroke of half time and it did clearly effect them, and although we were far from fantastic and it was a bit of a more workmanlike performance where we had to dig in a little, Sima secured his brace with 20 minutes left on the clock to ensure the points were ours.
After Todd Cantwell’s incredibly poor showing at the last time of asking, and what was a rather embarrassing early substitution for him, the 25 year old former England Under 21 international was pretty poor again, but mentally he reacted well and again showed that we have a bit of an enigma on our hands as he helped himself to the assists for both of Sima’s efforts on the day.
Whilst our 49 year old Belgian gaffer is clearly looking for further improvement, and he naturally expects it to come in the matches that lie ahead as the players become better acquainted with his system and become better used to his methods, he remained pleased with the performance purely from an effort and determination point of view, but understandably (despite Cantwell’s moment of magic) he is looking for far more quality in the months ahead.
“The performance was really good. A very mature game, a very focused game. We didn’t give away transitions, which is their strength. I came into this building and put the bar really high. Rome isn’t built in a day. If I see how the team were playing six weeks ago to now, I think we’ve improved. We need to keep doing what we’re doing, keep concentrating and then we can only get better.”
With 22 year old Brighton and Hove Albion loanee, Sima, grabbing his tenth and eleventh goals of the campaign, he came in for particular praise from our gaffer as he spoke to the press after the full time whistle, as Clement felt that all the work on the training pitch was starting to come through in his natural game now.
“We spoke about how he needs to be in these positions more, he needs to be in the box more, he needs to use his power more.”
Cantwell also naturally featured in the questioning, and it was very much a case of ‘no hard feelings’ but decisions have to be taken, even if they cause unfortunate headlines.
“It’s what we expect of him. He played a really good game on and off the ball. He was decisive with two assists. Thursday he was really disappointed in his own performance.”
The result means we continue to remain eight points off top spot, albeit with a game in hand, and we are eight points clear of, new to third place, Heart of Midlothian. As we face Hearts in our next match this coming Wednesday and we make the trip to Edinburgh and Tynecastle, we will undoubtedly be looking to cut that gap to the top of the table, whilst also keeping the chasing pack further at bay.
We absolutely need that game in hand to count for us, as every fan knows Clement’s unbeaten run will not continue forever, football is just not that simple, especially when injuries and lapses in form occur. However, the future will not only hold another mini wobble for us, other sides will suffer the same fate, so all we can do is ensure that we put ourselves into a position to capitalise on that when it comes to the chase for the Scottish Premiership title.
We can also very probably expect a new signing or two when the January transfer window opens in the New Year, as our new gaffer will have targets of his own that he would personally believe would make a more immediate impact on the squad, and not only aide our chances of keeping the unbeaten streak going for longer, but also play their own part in further helping the wider squad to adjust to his tactics during training sessions – particularly if he brings in an old head that has worked with him previously at other clubs.
After the disappointment and inconsistency that fans felt under Beale’s tenure, at least we are now heading to 2024 with renewed hope, maybe it will not be our year this time, but we look far better set already for next season.
Image from: unsplash.com