RANGERS have cut the gap to Premiership leaders Celtic to three points after beating St Mirren in their first Ibrox outing of the New Year.

Captain James Tavernier scored two out of the three penalties that he took, while Jermain Defoe also scored from the spot on a remarkable afternoon. Ryan Kent completed the scoring to clinch a 4-0 victory.

The Light Blues will now watch on as their Old Firm rivals face St Johnstone on Sunday afternoon looking to re-establish their advantage at the top of the table.

After making sweeping changes to his starting line-up for the win over Cowdenbeath in midweek, there was a more familiar look to Steven Gerrard’s side here. Indeed, the injured Connor Goldson apart, this was arguably Rangers’ strongest outfit in the 4-4-2 formation that they switched to once again.

The Ibrox crowd would have been expecting a fairly routine win over a Saints side that are languishing at the wrong end of the table. After just three minutes, the Gers were ahead.

Alfredo Morelos and Defoe combined inside the area the Englishman was impeded as he looked to make space for himself.

Tavernier made no mistake from the spot as he sent keeper Vaclav Hladky the wrong way to give Rangers the perfect start.

It was shaping up to be a long afternoon for the visitors and Rangers looked sharp in attack as they went in search of a quickfire second goal to kill the game.

Kent twisted and turned and saw a shot diverted just wide after good work from Defoe, while the winger slipped in Morelos down the right channel before the Colombian fired a shot into the near post.

St Mirren weren’t here just to defend and look to frustrate Rangers but they didn’t have the required quality when they did venture into the final third.

With 25 minutes on the clock, they should have been beaten. Defoe again earned his side a penalty as referee Andrew Dallas pointed to the spot but Saints defender Paul McGinn was furious with the award.

Tavernier had to wait before he could step up again and he went to the other side of Hladky’s goal this time. He couldn’t find the bottom corner, though, as his strike came back off the post and rebounded to safety.

St Mirren will maybe feel that justice was done but it was undoubtedly an opportunity missed for Rangers. Two more would come and go in quick succession.

Kent did well to cut in from the left before he clipped the top of the bar with a curling strike, while Defoe was denied his first Ibrox goal as he headed a Borna Barisic cross into the arms of Hladky.

Boss Oran Kearney would have been pleased with how St Mirren had performed until that stage but the game was taken away from them in a couple of moments early in the second half.

Striker Simeon Jackson spurned the Saints’ best chance of the game as he couldn’t keep his effort down from a good position inside the area.

And any nerves that could have crept in for Rangers where eradicated when Tavernier made it two from three from the penalty spot.

There was a delay in the award as Dallas conferred with his assistant but the Gers captain made no mistake this time around as he slotted the ball home to make it 2-0.

That was that as far as the outcome was concerned and Gerrard introduced Ryan Jack then Daniel Candeias in an attempt to raise Rangers’ levels.

Defoe and Morelos were denied in a penalty box scramble before appeals for another spot-kick were this time waved away by Dallas.

Candeias was denied twice by Hladky as the keeper saved a low drive and then blocked another strike with his legs.

Rangers were given their fourth penalty of the game when the Portuguese was fouled by Tansey on the edge of the box and Tavernier handed over the responsibility to Defoe this time.

The striker fired the ball home to open his account at Ibrox and then got an assist as he sent Kent clear and the winger dinked a neat finish over Hladky.