Kemar Roofe hits hat-trick as Rangers cut Premiership gap to Celtic with 4-0 win at St Mirren

Rangers have cut the gap at the top of the Premiership to six points with a comfortable win over St Mirren.

Kemar Roofe scored a hat-trick as the champions ran out 4-0 winners in Paisley on Sunday to keep pressure on league leaders Celtic ahead of the division’s split.

Giovanni Van Bronckhorst was looking for a reaction from his men after two consecutive defeats and falling nine points behind their city-rivals who beat St Johnstone 7-0 on Saturday.

And the Dutchman will have been happy with what he seen as they brushed the Buddies aside in the lunchtime kick-off.

Roofe, playing up-front for the second week in a row in place of talisman Alfredo Morelos, put Van Bronckhorst’s men ahead to ease any pre-match nerves in the 2nd minute of the game.

Helander was taken off with a knock early on and forgotten man Steven Davis was introduced into the action to replace John Lundstram who suffered an injury after 25 mins.

The Jamaica forward then made it two in first half injury time before putting the game beyond the hosts five minutes into the second with his and the visitor’s third goal.

He was replaced by Manchester United loanee Amad Diallo soon after, with Van Bronckhorst also taking off Ryan Kent and Aaron Ramsey for Scott Wright and James Sands.

But Rangers kept up the pressure on St Mirren and Joe Aribo made it four with the goal of the game on the 75th minute.

The Nigeria midfielder, who has struggled to regain his early form after returning from the African Cup of Nations, curled a shot from outside the box into the top corner.

The Ibrox club now have a massive week ahead of them. They face Braga on Thursday in the second leg of the Europa League Quarter-finals before another game against Celtic at Hampden in the Scottish Cup semi-final on Sunday.

St Mirren remain in tenth place, six points ahead of St Johnstone and on the same amount of points as Aberdeen in ninth, but with a vastly inferior goal-difference.