Miovski’s late goal secures victory for Rangers against St Mirren

Bojan Miovski waited all night for one clear sight of goal. When it finally arrived, deep into stoppage time, he turned a flat evening at Ibrox into a roar.

Final Score: Rangers 1, St Mirren 0

Miovski’s moment saves a stale night

After 90 laboured minutes, with Rangers running out of ideas and St Mirren sensing a precious point, Ivor Pandur launched a hopeful ball forward. Ryan Naderi rose, glanced it on, and suddenly Miovski was free, racing into the space behind a tiring back line.

Zach Hemming Chapman charged out to meet him. Miovski barely blinked. A cool dink, the ball hanging in the air for a heartbeat before dropping under the bar, and Ibrox finally exploded.

It was a finish of real composure, completely at odds with what had gone before.

Derek McInnes’ side had huffed, pushed and probed. They had also rushed, snatched and overcomplicated. But they found a way. Four league wins on the spin now, six in their last seven in all competitions, and up to second in the Scottish Premiership above St Mirren.

McInnes didn’t pretend it was perfect, but he loved the ending.

“I’m very relieved,” he told Sky Sports. “For an hour I was really pleased with the performance… we found a way to win. When you get a late winner, it illustrates the strength, fitness and character of the team.”

St Mirren’s big chance goes begging

This could easily have been St Mirren’s night.

On 66 minutes, with Rangers stretched and the home crowd growing restless, Fraser Taylor broke clear. One-on-one with Pandur, time to pick his spot, the kind of chance you dream of at Ibrox.

He hit it too straight. Pandur stood up, read it, and saved comfortably.

It was the moment. The miss that lingered.

Craig McLeish knew it.

“It felt like we deserved at least a point but you don’t always get what you deserve,” the St Mirren boss said. “We played like monsters tonight.”

He wasn’t wrong. St Mirren arrived organised and aggressive, defending with discipline and breaking with intent. They had already seen their goalkeeper keep them level long before Taylor’s miss.

Chapman stands tall – until stoppage time

Chapman produced the first of several big interventions on 17 minutes. Nicolas Raskin met a Bouanani cross with a firm header that looked destined for the corner. Chapman flung himself across and clawed it away.

Five minutes later, he was at it again. Gassama drove low from the edge of the box, Chapman got down to push it out, and when Bouanani pounced on the rebound, the St Mirren keeper reacted sharply to block once more.

For long spells, he was the calmest figure on the pitch.

Rangers, missing injured captain and talisman Lawrence Shankland, handed a start to Naderi through the middle. The movement was there, the final detail often wasn’t. St Mirren’s compact shape frustrated them, forced them wide, and invited crosses that were mostly meat and drink for the visitors’ defence.

McInnes admitted his side lost their way after the hour, frustrated by their own decisions as much as St Mirren’s resistance. Yet he also saw what he wanted in the closing stages: persistence.

“I couldn’t be more pleased with my players for their perseverance and sheer will to keep going,” he said. “We’re making good steps but we’d like to be able to win a bit more comfortably.”

McLeish proud in defeat

For McLeish, this was a defeat that stung but did not deflate.

“I was delighted with how we played tonight; we asked them to be brave and they stuck to what we’ve been doing,” he said. “Chapman had to make some great saves; we defended well but could have carried a bit more threat.”

He refused to lean on the schedule as a shield, even after a second straight league loss following the 2-1 defeat to Celtic.

“There are no excuses about four games in 12 days; we played like monsters tonight,” he insisted. “Our season can’t be defined by picking up a point away at Ibrox. If we play like we did tonight, then we should keep picking up more points throughout the season.”

Taylor, despite that glaring miss, did not escape praise either.

“These things even themselves out and Fraser Taylor was fantastic tonight. I’m just so proud of the group and we have to keep going.”

Rangers roll towards Celtic double-header

For Rangers, the late drama does more than add three points. It fuels belief.

They now step into a huge double-header with Celtic: first the League Cup quarter-final, then a Premiership clash at Parkhead. Momentum matters in weeks like this, and McInnes knows it.

As he put it, “As long as we’re winning, it’s a step towards hopefully getting more complete performances.”

If Miovski can keep producing finishes of this quality when the margins tighten even further, those steps might start to look like strides.