THE statistics told their own version of events at McDiarmid Park. The one that really mattered made pleasant reading for St Johnstone.
On a day when Rangers dominated in terms of possession and shots, it was the scoreline that everyone rightly focused on as Giovanni van Bronckhorst's side were left pointless in Perth.
There were times when the Saints had to weather the storm but goals in either half from James Brown and Nicky Clark earned a hard-fought victory that was cherished by the home support.
It was an occasion to savour for Callum Davidson and his players and St Johnstone now sit sixth in the Premiership standings ahead of their clash with St Mirren on Wednesday night.
Davidson was rightly proud of the efforts from his side as their endeavour was matched by quality when it mattered most at both ends of the park.
Two moments of individual excellence won it for the Saints. But Graham Carey knows it was the efforts of the collective that were the key to victory.
Carey said: “The stats show they were on top for most of the game but we knew that was going to happen because they have quality players.
“We knew we could frustrate them and that there would be space on the counter-attack.
“We stuck to the game-plan and it worked out well for us. Rangers do have quality players and especially in the wide areas.
“It is important to help the full-backs and not leave them isolated one versus one.
“Eventually they are going to get in but I thought we defended our box really well and frustrated them for large parts. You need to keep concentration and discipline.
“We spoke at half-time that we hadn’t been good with the ball when we did win it back.
“We needed a bit of composure and I thought we were better with that in the second half.
“We can improve on the performance with the ball but defensively and as a unit we were really strong."
This was a third successive win for St Johnstone as their triumph over Rangers followed narrow victories away to Hibernian and at home to Kilmarnock.
It is a run that has allowed Davidson's side to put daylight between themselves and the teams at the bottom of the table and there will be solid foundations to build on if positive results can be secured against St Mirren and Motherwell before the break.
The struggles of last season will perhaps be in the back of minds at McDiarmid Park. The focus is all on the future, though, as St Johnstone look onwards and upwards and continue to prove their doubters wrong this term.
“I don’t think it has bothered us," Carey said when asked about the Saints being tipped for the drop this term. “We got a lot of new players and the experience brought in is huge for the younger players.
“We have developed a different mindset and go into every game knowing we have the quality on the pitch to win them.
“Last year the team was probably guilty of looking behind them too much.
“Now we’re taking each game as it comes and now it is a big one against St Mirren.
“There have been a few games where we’ve played poorly and won. I think we can still improve a lot.
“The difference this year is that we have played badly at times but are picking up three points.
“We believe in ourselves because we do have good players. If we keep the ball for longer periods then we’ll cause a lot of teams trouble.
“We dealt with them (St Mirren) well at McDiarmid Park earlier in the season.
“But no doubt they will want a bit of revenge for that so it will be tough. Both teams are level on points so it’s a big game.”
