Kelsy double helps Rangers beat St Johnstone 4-0 and close on Celtic

Kevin Kelsy scored twice as Rangers beat St Johnstone 4-0 at Ibrox on Saturday, moving within one point of Celtic at the top of the Scottish Premiership. The Press Association report published by The Guardian said Derek McInnes's side responded to dropping two points at Dundee the previous weekend with a dominant performance, although they held only a narrow lead at half-time.

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Kelsy opened the scoring in the 29th minute, giving Rangers a reward for their first-half pressure. McInnes said afterwards that his players had created enough opportunities to be further ahead at the interval. He praised the quality of their play in difficult conditions and said he had urged them to deliver their best performance, rather than focus solely on winning the match.

St Johnstone began the second half brightly, but Rangers took control of the scoreline with two goals in quick succession. Ryan Naderi struck in the 61st minute and Kelsy added his second five minutes later. The visitors then lost substitute Kai Fotheringham to a straight red card in the 74th minute for a high challenge on Nico Raskin. Rangers substitute Tochi Chukwuani completed the scoring with three minutes remaining.

The result put pressure on Celtic before their Sunday trip to bottom-placed Hibernian, where victory would restore their four-point advantage. Elsewhere, Dundee United moved into fourth place by beating Aberdeen 3-2 at Tannadice. The win left United one point behind Hearts, who were due to visit Motherwell on Sunday, while Aberdeen slipped to ninth in the table.

Zidane Iqbal gave United the lead before Nesta Guinness-Walker equalised, with both players registering their first goals for their respective clubs. Dylan Tait restored United's advantage, only for Connor Ronan to bring Aberdeen level after half-time. Zac Sapsford then scored the decisive goal, settling a match in which the visitors had twice recovered from falling behind.

Falkirk climbed to seventh with a 3-0 win over Kilmarnock, helped by own goals from centre-backs Cathal McCarthy and George Stanger either side of Jacob Murrell's headed goal. St Mirren also collected three points, ending their losing sequence by defeating Dundee 2-1. Calvin Ramsay and Eseosa Sule scored for the hosts before Bradley Fink reduced the deficit for Dundee.