A Jorg Albertz double and a fine effort from Billy Dodds proved to be enough to give Rangers a 3-1 win over Premier League newcomers St Mirren.

Jens Paeslack netted a consolation goal for the home side, but Tom Hendrie's side languish at the bottom of the league without a point.

It was 1992 the last time that these two sides last met in league competition and they started this match like they wanted to make up for lost time.

As expected, it was the Ibrox side who enjoyed the best of the early chances, with Albertz and Dodds proving to be the dangermen.

Dodds was through on goal as early as three minutes before tumbling in the box under Tommy Turner's challenge, but the penalty call proved to be as half-hearted.

Three minutes later, Albertz went on a surging run and unleashed a trademark left-footer, producing a superb save from home keeper Ludovic Roy.

A Barry Ferguson cross from a tight angle then found Dodds and he flicked on to Rod Wallace, but Paul Rudden deflected the danger.

Albertz found himself clear through the middle again a couple of minutes later, but this time the big German pulled his shot wide.

It was 14 minutes before Saints had their first real chance of the game when Paeslack found Mark Yardley in the box, but Stefan Klos easily held Yardley's header.

Paeslack had a great opportunity on 19 minutes, but his header was turned away by Klos at the near post.

Rangers were looking by far the more likely candidates to snatch the opener and when it did come it was in controversial circumstances.

Wallace appeared to be brought down in the box by Paul Rudden, but referee Mike McCurry seemed to take an age before pointing to the spot, which had the home support in uproar.

Albertz stepped up for the penalty and coolly converted to give the Scottish champions a deserved lead.

Dodds almost added the second a few minutes later when he drilled the ball goalwards from a seemingly impossible angle, but was denied by the vigilant Roy.

But the Love Street keeper almost cost Saints after 34 minutes when his bad clearance fell to the feet of Dodds some ten yards out who flicked on to Ferguson, but the Scotland international sent the ball over the crossbar.

Saints' Hugh Murray is one of the club's brightest prospects and was a key figure in last season's First Division championship success.

But he found himself singled out for the wrong reasons when he became the first player of the game to cautioned for a challenge on Neil McCann.

Seconds later, team-mate Jose Quitongo joined him in the referee's book when he failed to heed Mr McCurry's warnings that he was not far enough back from Albertz's free-kick.

Three minutes after the break, Saints wasted a glorious opportunity to get back on to level terms when Ian Ross pin-pointed Yardley in the box, but the big striker somehow nodded wide when it looked so much easier to hit the back of the net.

If he was guilty of squandering the Buddies' best chance so far, then he was directly responsible for Rangers' second goal.

His attempted clearance went only as far as Ferguson, who sent McCann into the box.

He then pulled the ball back into the path off Dodds and the team's top scorer made no mistake when he blasted past Roy for his seventh goal of the season five minutes after the break.

Minutes later, Yardley was replaced by Steven McGarry.

Paeslack gave St Mirren a ray of hope on 62 minutes when the German pounced on a rebound after McGarry's effort had been blocked.

But the hosts' joy was to be short-lived.

Turner handled the ball some 30 yards out and Albertz opted to take the set-piece, sending his shot through the Saints wall and into the net.

Things took a turn for the worse for St Mirren when Ferguson went in for a hard challenge on Turner, which resulted in the skipper being stretchered off.

The incident turned out to be less serious than first thought and Turner returned to the park, but the Rangers midfielder was nevertheless shown the yellow card.

Rangers threatened again in the last minute of the game with a van Bronckhorst corner, but Roy was on hand to palm away the danger before Albertz's last-gasp effort flew over the crossbar.