Rangers beat St Johnstone at Hampden to progress in League Cup

Rangers have defeated St Johnstone at Hampden to reach the quarter-finals of the League Cup.

Cyriel Dessers came off the bench to put Rangers in front just before the hour-mark before a late Ross McCausland strike sealed a 2-0 win that secured the holders a place in Sunday’s draw.

The Nigeria forward was named among the substitutes but was brought on at half-time before grabbing the all-important opener.

Despite it being mostly one-way traffic in Rangers’ favour in the first 45 minutes it was St Johnstone who came close to taking the lead when Adama Sidibeh struck the post.

The main story of the half was defender Robin Propper becoming the latest in a long line of injury concerns for Philippe Clement when he had to be replaced just before the break.

Both of the goal-scorers were brought on in the second half and got the goals that secured a deserved victory for the home side.

It was a slow start at the national stadium in the last of five cup games being held across the country on Saturday.

Rangers had most of the possession and created a handful of half-chances in the opening stages with James Tavernier, Mohamed Diomande and Danilo all trying their luck.

The best of the early opportunities fell to the Brazilian forward, who was starting his first game of 2024 after a long injury layoff. However, St Johnstone goalkeeper Joshua Rae pulled off a comfortable save.

Jefte, who was sent off in the defeat to Dynamo Kyiv on Tuesday, tried his luck with a speculative long-range effort that flew well over the bar.

Vaclav Cerny was up next at the end of the half when the ball fell to him at the edge of the area with a clear sight of goal, but he will feel he should have done better with the strike which again failed to hit the target.

The Czech winger was involved again just moments later and he nearly capitalised on a defensive mix-up but the defender recovered well to clear it for a corner.

It was now looking like a case of when, and not if, Rangers would get the opener after a period of sustained pressure.

But they survived a scare up the other end after a quick St Johnstone counter-attack led to Sidibie hitting the post with a close-range volley that had the beating of Jack Butland.

Rangers’ long-running injury woes continued when they were forced into a change just before half-time when Propper had to be replaced by Davies.

Danilo came close to opening the scoring in first-half injury time but his header was just wide of the post before Cerny had a volley saved by Rae.

Clement made another change at the break and brought on Dessers to replace Danilo.

Both sides had early chances in the second half with Matt Smith firing a shot over the bar before Matondo and Cerny came close to an opener.

Rangers took the lead just before the hour-mark when Dessers forced his way through the St Johnstone defence before firing the ball past Rae to make it 1-0.

The goal was initially ruled out for what the ref thought was a foul in the build-up but after being called over to the VAR monitor he reversed his decision and awarded the goal.

St Johnstone tried to get themselves back into the game and Sidibeh came close again when he forced Butland to tip his long-range effort over the bar.

However, Rangers also continued to press forward and kept Rae busy with a flurry of chances including one from Ross McCausland who nearly put the game to bed in the closing stages.

The winger burst through the right-hand side before trying his luck from an awkward angle but the keeper did well to turn it round the post.

With the game still at 1-0 going into injury time there was always a danger that St Johnstone could nick the draw and they came close again through Sidibeh but he failed to make full contact when the ball fell to him in the box and his shot trundled wide of the post.

Then in the second minute of injury time, McCausland struck to make it 2-0 and secure Rangers a place in the next round.