Rangers vs St Mirren preview: I ain't your buddy, pal

Morning all, it's a sunny Sunday as Rangers take on St Mirren at Ibrox at 3pm. I think we've all had some time to calm down after the buzz of the result on Thursday. I was effusive in my praise of the performance and set up, but I tempered that with a reminder of the previous false dawn we've had this season.

The hope is that today we don't see a return to previous league form. We've lost Lawrence to injury, for this game atleast I'd say. I think there's a chance of seeing Lovelace start on the left, Clement meant business bringing him in and he's a real option in terms of the threat he brings. That would mean Bajrami in the middle which many would be happy with, I think the pace on our left hand side would give him plenty of passing options so we'd maybe see the best of him. It would be a mistake starting Bajrami off the left with Diomande in the 10 position as they may try to occupy similar spaces and get in each other's way.

Aside from that,, the main topic of discussion is the chance of seeing Hamza Igamane start over Dessers upfront. Dessers has looked laboured in recent games, and I don't want to pile in on the Nigerian when he's had plenty of that already, but some time out of the limelight is really what he needs. Igamane was a genuine threat on Thursday night and a centre forward running the channels and fighting for every ball in behind is exactly what this team needs at the moment.

The partnership in midfield on Thursday looked like it could be a real base for Rangers to play from, my only fear would be that against an organised deep block we could end up seeing both midfielders standing on the halfway line looking for passing options. I hope that's not the case, and Barron is very effective at receiving the ball in the midfield and breaking the lines with direct passing, so hopefully we see that today.

Clement was very positive and had a very cheery demeanour after Thursday night, but I think that really masks the pressure he must be feeling. I don't even think we need to drop points today for the fans mood to dip, if we don't perform to a high standard and grind out another 1-0 win, it will feel like Thursday was yet another instance of a great performance being an outlier rather than the standard.

Quite a short one today given the quick turnaround between the games, we all know what's required today, I'm not going to get my hopes up, I've been burnt before.