Rangers Return To Scotland To Face St. Mirren At Paisley
By Joseph Sinke
Rangers return to action in the Premiership to face St. Mirren on the road.
Rangers return from a tightly contested draw in Europa League against Legia Warsaw to face St. Mirren in the Scottish Premiership. It will be a return of the dreaded low-block defense that Rangers have had so much trouble with, including last season at times from this St. Mirren side.
St. Mirren have actually looked fairly decent so far this season. Last season they barely avoided relegation by defeating Dundee United on penalties in the relegation/promotion playoff but they have bounced into a decent start to this season.
In the opening week they lost a close match to Hibernian where Scott Allan scored a late goal. Despite the loss, St. Mirren looked solid in defense and dangerous on the attack on at Easter Road and were, quite frankly, unlucky to not get a draw.
Then in their second game, they defeated Aberdeen 1-0 at home to shock the Dons. They once again looked very solid in defense and at times dangerous on the attack. It is obviously very early, but they already look to be showing more signs of life than they usually did last season.
For Rangers, this is a classic trap game that they must avoid. Coming in the middle of a huge European tie with a meeting of the Old Firm coming next week, they must be sure not to overlook this St. Mirren squad as they have already shown they can play with better teams.
This will also mark another test of Rangers ability to break down low-blocks. They struggled at Kilmarnock in the season opener in a way that looked eerily similar to much of last season. That said, given the importance of the matches on either side of this one, Rangers can’t be too worried about how good or bad it looks, they must simply ensure they take all three points from the match.