Rangers 2 - 1 St Johnstone Sat 28/08/10

Kenny Miller came to the rescue with the winner for Rangers against St Johnstone as he maintained his record of scoring in every game in the Scottish Premier League so far this season.

Saints had taken a shock lead at Ibrox through Danny Grainger, before Sasa Papac - who netted both his goals against the Perth side last term - restored parity with a little help from unfortunate defender Kevin Rutkiewicz.

But it was Miller who had the final say as he claimed his fifth goal of the season to add to strikes against Kilmarnock and Hibernian in Rangers' previous SPL outings.

Nikica Jelavic was named on the Rangers bench after being granted a work permit, while fellow new recruit Vladimir Weiss made his first start for the champions.

Lee McCulloch made his first appearance of the SPL season after returning from suspension but Kyle Lafferty was suspended.

Saints brought in Steven Anderson, Jody Morris and Marcus Haber, changing their line-up following the win over Morton in the League Cup in midweek.

The hosts had the chance to put their visitors under pressure early on with a free-kick from 25 yards that was struck well enough by Papac but comfortably smothered by goalkeeper Graeme Smith.

At the other end, Morris saw his shot from distance take a deflection off team-mate Collin Samuel and fall wide, before Allan McGregor was called into action to block from Haber at his near post.

Weiss and Steven Davis linked up well with a one-two before the on-loan Manchester City winger had a crack at goal, but the end product was weak and, again, Smith was untroubled in the Saints goal.

The Perth side were forced to make a change with 20 minutes gone when Murray Davidson left the pitch on a stretcher following a clash of heads with Haber and was replaced by Liam Caddis.

The visitors nevertheless went ahead after 25 minutes when a corner from Morris was collected by Danny Grainger 20 yards out and he lashed past the outstretched hands of McGregor and high into the back of the net.

However, Saints' hopes of holding their lead at least until half-time were dashed when the home side hauled themselves back onto level terms after 33 minutes.

A lovely cross from Weiss found Steven Naismith at the back post and his header was collected by Papac, who tried to force over the line from a yard out, with Rutkiewicz's attempt to clear only helping the ball into the net.

Rangers piled forward in numbers but could not claim the advantage before the interval despite their pressure in front of goal.

Home fans appealed for handball against Alan Maybury a few minutes after the restart but those pleas for a penalty were ignored by referee Callum Murray.

Rangers continued to push for another goal and Weiss weaved his way into the box from the left before cutting back for McCulloch, who saw his shot fizz narrowly past the post.

There was a second claim for a Maybury handball but, again, the match official refused to point to the spot.

Rangers had another decent chance when Madjid Bougherra made one of his surging runs down the right flank before whipping a dangerous cross into the box, but Smith was able to punch to safety as James Beattie loitered with intent.

The former Stoke striker then made way for Jelavic, whose introduction for his debut after 67 minutes was met with noisy approval from the crowd.

The referee had another call to make when Weiss went to ground in the box under pressure from Grainger but the youngster succeeded only in earning himself a yellow card for dissent when his claims were dismissed.

Rangers' hard work eventually paid off when Miller claimed his fifth goal of the season with 11 minutes to go.

Papac began the move with a short ball to McCulloch who swept it into the path of Miller and he shrugged off Maybury before rifling home from the edge of the box.

Rangers manager Walter Smith admits he would not welcome interest in any of his players before this week's transfer deadline as he bids to retain the personnel he has at his disposal

.He said: ''We can be approached but whether we sell or not is another aspect. There is no necessity for us to do so and that's where we stand at the moment. The transfer window brings around that type of question but we have been sitting since the end of May and we have had no enquiries for anybody who is playing in our team.

''The enquiries we have had, the players have left us. Hopefully we will get no enquiries and we can settle down after that.

''Miller has netted in all three SPL games so far and Smith added: ''He is playing very well for us at the moment and we are delighted because we had to work extremely hard for our win today.

''Last season he got over 20 goals for us and he has started like that for us this season as well. We are delighted because we need that little bit of a spark at the moment and something to lift us out of that lethargic spell we are having starting games at the moment.

''Saints surged into the lead at Ibrox through Danny Grainger, before Sasa Papac levelled with some help from defender Kevin Rutkiewicz and Miller secured the decisive goal late on.

Smith said: ''We didn't start the match well at all and it took us until St Johnstone scored to get started. That has been typical of us in our opening three games in the league and we are going to have to try to make sure that we step up and take the game to teams a little bit better than we have been doing.

''Sometimes it takes time to get started again. All our players had probably the longest close season they have had for many years so getting into the competitive action might take them a little bit of time.

''Certainly, after St Johnstone scored, we started to dominate the game so maybe we are needing a kick-start prior to the kick-off rather than waiting until the action starts and reacting to it.

''The win propelled Rangers to the top of the league but Saints boss Derek McInnes questioned whether Miller's goal should even have been allowed to stand.

He said: ''I've just seen it with our video boy there and, for me, it's clear there is a barge on the back of Alan Maybury at the goal. I'm disappointed. Yes, Kenny Miller's movement is good and Alan Maybury is aware of it and he sees him. It's a good finish but I thought it was pretty tough on us.

''I thought it was a free-kick more than anything and we are disappointed because up until then I thought we restricted them to very little. There were a loads of positives we could take.

''The only negative is the defeat and the fact that we have come away with nothing. I think it's only right that I mention it because we do feel an injustice at the second goal but I would rather look at the positives.''

Teams

RANGERS: McGregor, Whittaker, Bougherra, Weir, Papac, McCulloch, Davis, Weiss (Edu 83), Naismith, Miller, Beattie (Jelavic 67),

Subs: Alexander, McMillan, Hutton, Little, Broadfoot,

St Johnstone: Smith, Rutkiewicz, Duberry, Maybury, Grainger, Anderson (Dobie 86), Morris, Millar, Davidson (Caddis 18), Samuel (Taylor 72), Haber,

Subs: Enckelman, Gartland, Mat, Parkin,

Ref: C Murray

Man-of-the-match: Weiss

Attendance: 49, 109