The match stats tell the story of Rangers’ dominance.
Their expected goals was 4.57 to St Johnstone’s 0.58. They had 21 shots on goal, nine on target and created eight big chances to Saints’ two.
They forced 13 corners and one of them led to a goal as Kelsy got on the end of Emmanuel Fernandez’s flick-on to tuck home his second goal. It was the first goal Rangers have scored from a corner this season.
“One of Rangers’ main strengths from last season was set pieces,” said Halliday.
“Rangers have had countless corners and wide free-kicks this season when it’s not been James Tavernier delivering it. The standard of delivery this year has been really poor from set pieces.
“They’ve got Naderi, Kelsy, Fernandez, they’ve got giants to hit but the delivery for the most part hasn’t been good enough.
“On the 11th corner today they finally scored. Talk about adding strings to their bow. They need to get back to the point where they are a real danger from set pieces.”
McInnes felt the performance was “as good as we’ve been for a while” and it sets his team up nicely for Wednesday night’s Scottish Premiership meeting with Hearts, the Rangers manager’s first return to Tynecastle since swapping Gorgie for Govan in the summer.
“I had a brilliant time there and I know how difficult the fixture is for any opposition going to Tynecastle,” said McInnes.
“We were unbeaten all season last season at Hearts and they’ve a strong home record, so we’re going to have to bring a big performance to go there and get a result.
“We’re well aware of that but I think we’re in good form. We are slowly but surely just chalking off wins and there’s loads of positives.
“It’s never a bad thing when your strikers score and you go to any game, any venue, believing that you can get a result. We expect it to be tough but equally we want to make sure it’s a tough night for them as well.”