TOMMY WRIGHT reckons St Johnstone shot themselves in the foot as Rangers punished them for a sloppy defensive showing at McDiarmid Park.

The Light Blues ran out comfortable 4-1 winners as goals from James Tavernier, Josh Windass, Sean Goss and Alfredo Morelos moved them to within six points of Celtic in the Premiership standings.

St Johnstone pulled a goal back in the second half through Jason Kerr but it was to prove another disappointing night at the office for the Perth side.

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And boss Wright was frustrated with the manner of the goals that they gave away as they struggled to put up a fight to Graeme Murty’s side.

He said: “It is back to how we have been at home at times this season and we gifted the first two goals.

“I can point the finger at two or three players for the first goal and the second goal we don’t press the ball well enough and we don’t track the run.

“It is basic defending and you end up 2-0 down but I thought we responded well to that and George had a good chance.

“The fact is the game is ended on a refereeing decision and a great free-kick. It is not a foul, Murray clearly wins the ball and wins in cleanly.

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“He books Murray and they score from the free-kick. At 3-0, that is the game dead. At 2-0 you have a chance.

“It was important we went out and at least tried to win the second half and again we should do better in the build-up to their goal.

“It is basic and people don’t stop the cross and we give away another soft goal from our point of view.

“We do well to get one back. The second half was probably better for us but we can’t give goals away like we did again and that has been our Achilles heel all season.”