After his midweek goal against Hibs, John Sutton came into the starting lineup in place of the injured Craig Molloy. That was the only change, as Gus MacPherson went with a slightly more attacking side.
Last time the Setanta cameras were at Love Street, Celtic scored inside 90 seconds. This time, Saints lasted twice as long. Charlie Adam (him again) crossed the ball into the box and Kris Boyd and Kirk Broadfoot went for it. There appeared no danger, but Chris Smith missed it, collided with Broadfoot and the ball broke to Nacho Novo, who slammed the ball home despite John Potter's efforts.
Game over? Well, against a Rangers side of ten or 15 years ago it would have been. However, Saints fought back and were unlucky when a header (either from Sutton or Ian Maxwell) from a free kick was well saved by McGregor. Maxwell had to go off shortly after with a hamstring injury, being replaced by Eddie Malone.
There were other first half chances for Saints, with Malone forcing McGregor to parry away a long range free kick, although the resulting scramble didn't come to much. David van Zanten or Richard Brittain (again, couldn't tell which) shot just wide, before Broadfoot headed not far over just before half time.
At the other end there was very little - a few good tackles and simple saves for Smith, but nothing major. We even had a fairly competent referee at this stage, his only surprising decision against Saints being a freekick given for an excellent tackle by Hugh Murray. He even penalised Boyd every time when he was all over our defenders, although failed to book him for persistent fouling.
Saints started the second half extremely brightly, some good work presenting Kean with half a chance that he put wide. Broadfoot then went on one of his trademark runs - which included taking the mickey out of the supposedly welcoming Barry Ferguson - before laying off to Kean, who shot just wide for what would have been a goal of the season contender. Cries of "Too good for Rangers" were ringing around Love Street shortly afterwards.
Saints went for it by replacing Brittain with Mark Corcoran, and the winger immediately got involved in things by chasing a long ball, before taking it away from McGregor and being flattened. Most Saints fans claimed for a penalty, but a throw in was given instead. Rangers brought on the kneeless Dado Prso, who went on a jinking run, but fortunately it was cleared by Saints.
The Buddies were continuing to push - following a "goal" for Rangers that was ruled offside as soon as Adam's free kick was taken - and Corcoran once again went down inside the box, but this time he was correctly booked for a disgraceful dive. Having finally found his cards, referee Richmond finally booked Boyd for persistent fouling, before adding Novo to the book as well.
Sadly, it wasn't to be Saints day. sub Billy Mehmet came close with a great effort, before Saints wasted a corner and some free kicks as per usual. Rangers threatened little, with manager Walter Smith later coming up with some nonsense about a bumpy pitch.
A point would have been fair for Saints as they put in far more effort than last week against Falkirk. In the end it wasn't enough, meaning the gap is four points with five games to go. Time for some new underwear.
There's just over a fortnight until we play our next game. Perhaps we should spend it working on our set pieces.