Rangers Edge St Mirren with Last-Minute Winner from Miovski

Four minutes. That was the distance between mutiny and mayhem at Ibrox.

As the board went up for stoppage time, Rangers were trudging towards a goalless draw with St Mirren, a flat second half having drained the atmosphere and the patience of the home crowd. Boos had already crackled round the stadium. Hundreds had seen enough and headed for the exits.

Then Bojan Miovski changed the conversation.

The forward, pushed to the fringes in recent weeks, darted into the box and finished neatly to salvage a 1-0 win that felt far bigger than the scoreline. The roar was not joy alone; it was relief, bordering on catharsis. Players, staff, and the stands erupted in celebrations more suited to a trophy lift than a routine league fixture in September.

It needed to be that big. The stakes were.

With Celtic grinding out their own 1-0 win away to St Johnstone to preserve a perfect league record, Rangers were staring at the prospect of slipping seven points behind the champions after just six games. Miovski’s strike trimmed that gap to a more manageable four and kept Derek McInnes’ season from tilting into early crisis.

The timing could hardly matter more. Next up: Martin O’Neill’s Celtic in the Premier Sports Cup quarter-final on Sunday, then a trip to Celtic Park in the Premiership a week later. Two derby games that can harden belief or shred it.

McInnes knows the numbers are on his side, at least on paper.

“If you strip it back, six wins out of seven, four straight wins,” the former Heart of Midlothian head coach could rightfully point out. “We have not lost a goal apart from an own goal.”

Those stats have been built on narrow margins. Since their 5-1 demolition of St Mirren in the League Cup at Ibrox a month ago, every Rangers victory has come by a single goal. The manager is under no illusion that his rebuilt squad is the finished article.

“I thought we got what we deserved, granted St Mirren had a 20-minute period in the second half when they were better than us,” he told BBC Scotland. “They played with a bit more belief and came after us and we were guilty of so many poor decisions.

“But I thought the performance for the first hour was really strong, particularly the first half, where we absolutely battered St Mirren.

“I was really pleased with the performance, but at 0-0, as an opposition manager, when you've been put through the ringer and you know you haven't been punished for it, it does give you power and belief that you can get something from it.”

For long stretches, that belief seemed to belong to St Mirren. The visitors rode out wave after wave in the first half, then grew into the contest as Rangers’ control slipped after the break. The tension in the stands grew with every misplaced pass.

So when Miovski struck, McInnes had no time for accusations of over-celebrating.

“Last-minute winners are great for players, coaches and fans,” he said. “We'd rather not be in that position, but credit to the players for keeping going.

“There are obviously loads we have to improve on, but we have to meanwhile keep winning and we have to keep improving if we are to achieve anything this season.”

From the outside, there are signs of life. Former Rangers midfielder Andy Halliday saw enough to be encouraged, at least for 45 minutes.

“I thought in the first half Rangers were really good,” he told BBC Radio Scotland’s Sportsound. “They have shown a vast improvement off the ball over the last three or four games.

“They played with a lot of aggression, a lot of intensity and they've created an abundance of chances in the first half as well, but they just don't seem to have that ruthlessness in the top end of the pitch.”

Halliday was far less impressed with what followed.

“I don't particularly agree with Derek McInnes' assessment of the second half. I thought St Mirren had much more than a 20-minute period. Rangers just lost all control and got a bit desperate.

“They got a wee bit too forceful too early, but take nothing away from them - the forcefulness worked in the end with the direct ball getting them the goal.”

That lack of edge in attack is not a mystery. McInnes has been stripped of his first-choice forwards. Youssef Chermiti and summer signing Lawrence Shankland, the men earmarked to lead the line, are both out with long-term injuries. The blow has been compounded by news that Japanese winger Daisuke Yokota now needs groin surgery, only weeks after arriving.

Into that void has stepped Miovski, almost by accident.

The striker had slipped to fifth-choice and looked destined to leave during the transfer window. Instead, he stayed, waited, and on this night delivered.

“It just shows you what football is like and how quickly it can change,” Halliday said. “It looked like he was out of the picture two or three weeks ago and it looked like he was going to be on his way in the transfer window, but he's come up with a massive goal.”

Halliday does not expect Miovski to start against Celtic, but accepts the dynamic has shifted.

“He's certainly more in the picture after a goal like that.”

McInnes has so far leaned towards Ryan Naderi and Kevin Kelsy, the big-money summer arrival from Portland Timbers. Yet the numbers keep Miovski relevant.

“It is just typical of football that a few weeks ago Bojan would have seemed so far out of it,” the manager said. “But, when you actually strip it back, his goals per minutes in the Premiership is up there with Lawrence Shankland.

“So I was delighted when I inherited someone like Bojan who knows his way about the Scottish Premiership and is a goalscorer and, played in the right manner and with the right partner, is capable of scoring goals.”

Rangers leave this drama with four straight home wins, a fragile but growing resilience, and a season still very much alive. The question now is whether a stoppage-time escape against St Mirren is a turning point, or just a stay of execution before Celtic apply the real examination.