Rangers 0 St Mirren 2: Stars in stripes cut down Philippe Clement's California dreamers with 33-year first at Ibrox

Excitement around the Govan stadium soon evaporated when the Paisley side popped two past Jack Butland

SORRY STATE Rangers 0 St Mirren 2: Stars in stripes cut down Philippe Clement’s California dreamers with 33-year first at Ibrox

RANGERS fans waved American flags.

But at Ibrox it was a day for Stephen Robinson’s Stars n’ Stripes.

4 Rangers fans' excitement over potential investment from America was soon extinguished Credit: PA

4 Mikael Mandron and Toyosi Olusanya celebrate the Saints' second Credit: Willie Vass

4 Philippe Clement endured more boos at full-time following the sorry performance Credit: Willie Vass

Referee Kevin Clancy brought chants about the SFA, never mind the USA.

St Mirren’s first win at Ibrox in 33 YEARS only serves to highlight what every Gers fan already knows - the NFL investors from across the pond have a long way to go before they Make Rangers Great Again.

The Buddies hadn’t recorded back-to-back wins over Rangers since 1980.

In doing so they piled the pressure on a Gers boss who simply won’t be here next season.

Was it not for the promise of regime change, Philippe Clement would be long gone already.

This week it emerged the billionaire owners of the San Francisco 49ers are in advanced talks to takeover Rangers.

The Belgian won’t be the man leading the US revolution.

Just hours after Celtic were beaten at Easter Road, his flops failed miserably to cut the gap in a title race that’s already done and dusted.

Mikael Mandron and Toyosi Olusanya were the St Mirren heroes as boss Robinson toasted three years in charge in style.

As strange as it may seem, Rangers had actually won their last five league games - all by a winning margin of at least two goals.

But the humiliation felt following THAT defeat to Queen’s Park isn’t something the fans will forget in a hurry.

Thankfully for Clement, in Gers’ first game back at Ibrox since that devastating Scottish Cup loss, the narrative had shifted.

How it had shifted.

While the majority of Rangers supporters are still calling for the Belgian to be sacked, they now understand why he wasn’t.

Regime change is potentially coming with the billionaire owners of the San Francisco 49ers involved in advanced takeover talks.

There would be no point in sacking Clement now, hiring someone else to see the club through until the summer before replacing him when the new owners are finally in situ.

Even for Rangers, that would be crazy.

So, for now, the long suffering Ibrox support is prepared to grin and bear it, safe in the knowledge Clement is likely to be gone in just a few months’ time.

Of course, news of the impending takeover also put paid to any pre-planned protests.

Anger had given way to hope.

Robinson took charge of St Mirren exactly three years ago and he was hoping to toast that managerial milestone.

At the break, he was certainly the happier of the two managers.

4 Stephen Robinson celebrated three years in charge with a massive win Credit: Willie Vass

If anything, Robinson would have been a little disappointed his side weren’t in front.

They’d had plenty of chances in a match that exploded in controversy right on the stroke of half-time.

Hamza Igamane was shown a straight red card for a foul on Mark O’Hara, only for VAR to intervene.

Ref Kevin Clancy was called to the monitor, downgrading the Moroccan’s card to a yellow following a review.

If Igamane was a relieved man that’s nothing compared to Clement who’d watched his side gift the visitors a string of chances.

So often this season, Rangers have been masters of their own downfall.

Here they were at it again.

Jack Butland had already produced one or two unorthodox saves when his attempted clearance fell straight at the feet of Jonah Ayunga.

The Gers keeper made amends by saving Ayunga’s effort, with Mikael Mandron blasting the rebound high over the bar.

It was a major let off for the home side.

Their response was a sweeping move which saw Igamane break free in midfield.

He found Vaclav Cerny who cut inside, forcing Zach Hemmings into his first save of the match.

With 13 minutes on the clock, Igamane found Robin Propper with a quite superb pass.

The Dutchman simply had to do better six yards out.

Marcus Fraser presented Gers with their next opening when his loose pass was gathered by Ianis Hagi.

He fed Igamane whose shot was deflected inches over St Mirren’s bar.

More slack defending at the other end saw the visitors continue to ask questions.

With 41 minutes gone, Madron linked well with Ryan Alebiosu. Ayunga looked to have got across Propper, but the former Twente skipper recovered to make a goalsaving tackle.

Once again, Rangers had been poor.

Had it not been for Clancy’s cock-up, they would have been jeered from the field for the second time in two home games.

They had to show more purpose in the second half. They had to take the game to the visitors.

St Mirren hadn’t really been stretched and Robinson would have been calling for more of the same.

Five minutes into the second half he and Saints were rewarded - but not before more VAR controversy.

Mandron looked to have simply brushed Clinton Nsiala off the ball before dispatching a powerful drive into the corner of Butland’s net.

Clancy, however, had other ideas and blew for what the crowd thought was a foul on the Rangers defender.

The officials were actually checking for a possible offside in the build up and, after yet another lengthy review, the whistler reversed his on-field decision and the St Mirren goal stood.

You couldn’t say it wasn’t deserved.

For Rangers and Clement, it simply went from bad to worse.

Saints sub Olusanya had only been on the park three minutes when he simply bullied Nsiala off the ball.

In one magical motion, he hooked a wonderful effort up and over Butland.

The travelling St Mirren support were in dreamland.

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