RANGERS moved up to second place in the Scottish Premiership table with a convincing thumping of St Johnstone at Ibrox yesterday.

Goals from James Tavernier, Alfredo Morelos, Scott Arfield, Kyle Lafferty and Daniel Candeias rendered Blair Alston’s consolation from the penalty spot meaningless for the visitors, as Steven Gerrard’s men closed the gap on Hearts at the summit to five points.

The Sunday afternoon stroll gave the Rangers manager plenty of reasons for optimism, both with the display on the field and the strength of the cast who were waiting in the wings.

RANGERS MIGHT JUST HAVE THE DEPTH TO COPE WITH COMPETING AT HOME AND ABROAD

Ibrox boss Gerrard made four changes to his starting line-up yesterday from the side that earned that impressive draw in Spain against Villarreal on Thursday evening, and you couldn’t have argued that it weakened them at all.

Alfredo Morelos came back into the team, allowing Kyle Lafferty to have a rest after his midweek heroics, and the forward was bang at it from the off and got a fine goal that his efforts deserved.

Jon Flanagan slotted in at left-back with Borna Barisic awaiting news on a scan on an Achilles injury and was solid throughout, Nikola Katic came back in for Joe Worrall at centre-back and he did have a few hairy moments, but Ross McCrorie was bright and energetic alongside Lassana Coulibaly at the base of the midfield after coming in for Andy Halliday.

Ovie Ejaria, Graham Dorrans and Lafferty all got a taste of the action before the end too, with the forward getting in on the goals with a well-taken fourth, and all of a sudden Gerrard looks to have more than decent options in every area of the field.

YOU CAN’T CONCEDE FREE-KICKS ANYWHERE NEAR THE AREA WITH JAMES TAVERNIER AROUND

The Rangers captain limped off around the hour mark, and goalkeepers throughout the Scottish Premiership may well be hoping that he is sidelined for a while after seeing him in this mood.

His opening goal that got the party started at Ibrox was from a free-kick around 25 yards from goal, and it was a peach, curling the ball up and over the wall and leaving St Johnstone keeper Zander Clark with no chance.

There was a sense of inevitability that the net would bulge again later in the first half as Richard Foster took out Ryan Kent on the edge of the area, and the only surprise was that the ball cannoned off the crossbar rather than nestling into the top corner of the net once more.

The right-back has been criticised in the past for his shortcomings in a defensive sense, but he provides Rangers with such a threat going forward, having now bagged four goals this season already.

ALFREDO MORELOS LOOKS LEAN, MEAN AND HUNGRY

The striker comes with baggage no doubt and his temperament remains suspect at times, but when he is in the mood, there is no doubting the quality of the Colombian international.

He was certainly in the right frame of mind here as he worked his socks off in wide areas, never gave the St Johnstone defenders a moment’s peace, and got into danger areas at the right times to pose a threat.

He scored the second goal of the day and it was no more than his overall display deserved. He might have had more, but he can be satisfied with his day’s work.

“Morelos in the second half was stunning, it was a stunning number nine performance,” said Gerrard afterwards, and it was hard to argue.

RYAN KENT AND DANIEL CANDIEAS ARE A THREAT ON EITHER WING

The Rangers wide men switched sides during the first half on a couple of occasions to great effect, with Candeias coming over to the left and using the ball well as he cut back inside, before Kent resumed his normal role and gave former Rangers man Richard Foster a whole new set of problems with his direct running beyond the right-back. That was exemplified as he chopped the on-loan Liverpool man down crudely as he showed him a clean pair of heels and advanced towards the area.

It was fitting that Candeias was the man to put the icing on the cake for Rangers with the fifth goal of the day and he justifiably claimed the man-of-the-match award too.

IF YOU ALLOW RANGERS TO SMELL BLOOD, THEY WILL RUN RIOT

The defensive display put on here from St Johnstone was entirely uncharacteristic of a Tommy Wright side, allowing their opponents far too much time and space on the ball. With Rangers having their tails up, the last thing the visitors could afford to do was offer them any encouragement, but they were so slack both in and out of possession that there was only ever going to be one outcome.

Rangers deserve huge credit for the way they tore the visitors apart, passing the ball crisply and with a purpose, while also showing patience to shift the ball from side-to-side when they had to in order to open up space. Invariably, they managed to do just that all too easily.

“”We made it tough for ourselves,” said St Johnstone manager Wright. “I thought Rangers played really well but a lot of the goals we could have defended better.

“Strangely, we’ve been here before when we created less chances and won.

“They were clinical this time but we could have helped ourselves with how we defended.

“The first goal was always going to be important but it was a cheap, cheap goal. It’s a great free-kick but the build-up is cheap from us.”