A stunning strike by St Johnstone's Momo Sylla gave his side a rare win against the champions, whose chances of retaining their title are becoming more and more remote.

The green and white half of Glasgow will have been delighted by not only the result but the manner of their opponents' defeat.

Celtic are not matching their earlier high standards but are still winning; lethargic Rangers are underachieving full stop.

Dick Advocaat can point to a lengthy injury list but that in itself is no excuse.

Indeed, the home side had 19 players unavailable themselves and Rangers fielded eight full internationals - the same total St Johnstone have had in their entire existence.

Young Keigan Parker put his side ahead and put in the sort of display that will get him talked about for a long time.

Perhaps Rangers will buy him, as they did with Kenny Miller, whose equalising strike was the sole highlight of their sorry afternoon.

The home side had managed to field the same starting line-up as the one that went down 2-0 to Celtic on a Tuesday night McDiarmid Park quagmire, with Sylla and Jim Weir passing fitness tests to continue.

The Rangers line-up in comparison was a total make-over from the side that drew 0-0 with Galatasaray on the same evening.

Dick Advocaat made six changes, bringing in Mark Brown in goal, Lorenzo Amoruso in defence plus Dariusz Adamczuk, Neil McCann, Billy Dodds and Kenny Miller further up the field.

Rod Wallace was back from injury on the bench and the two Lovenkrands brothers, Tommy of the home side and Peter of the champions, both started on the bench.

The opening minutes were little more than an inaccurate exchange of artillery fire with Sylla firing well over and Amoruso following suit not long after from a freekick.

Barry Ferguson was keen to carry on from an impressive night on Tuesday on which he wore the captain's armband and almost notched the winner.

He had chances in the first half, miskicking one, firing another over on the run and failing to clear Alan Main with a chip with the pick of the bunch.

But it was another young Scot, St Johnstone's Parker, who showed him how it was done by creating and scoring the opening goal.

The Scotland Under-18 regular skipped past Sergio Porrini into the box and the Italian eventually pulled him down, sending him toppling off the pitch.

Parker picked himself up and had no problem sending fellow teenager Brown the wrong way from the spot.

McCann and Sylla were having a ding-dong battle down the left wing and eventually the referee had to force them to shake hands.

The Guinea international had given him the slip with a cheeky little flick and Nick Dasovic was almost on the end of the cross in one of many nervy moments at the back for the champions.

McCann countered with a cut inside but his right foot finish was too weak and inaccurate to trouble Main.

Near the end of the half, Sylla got in the way of McCann's strike to preserve a lead that might already have been doubled by Paddy Connolly.

The striker, for whom goals are still a rarity, was sent through Rangers' rigid three-man rearguard but could not slip the ball past Brown, who now slips back into the Ibrox shadows once newcomer Jesper Christiansen completes his transfer tomorrow.

Brown could offer his new rival plenty of advice about how to cope with a defence that, despite its transfer cost, still looks eminently breachable.

Time and time again Brown was given troublesome backpasses and had no option but to hoof into the stands.

He also had to save from Bert Konterman's back header, although the defender would argue he had not been informed that Brown had come so far off his line.

The absence of Giovanni van Bronckhorst is also affecting Rangers, for whom Ronald de Boer is only intermittently effective.

Plenty must have been said in the away dressing room at half time and it showed early in the second half when Main was twice needed to make saves to deny first Miller and then Dodds, who had been waiting all afternoon for a decent ball.

It was Darren Dods who supplied the equaliser however with a clearance that reached Miller some 25 yards from goal. The Scotland Under-21 star lost no time in thumping it back past Main.

Adamzcuk was foiled by Main after Tugay had put him in behind Gary Bollan and de Boer almost saved his side at the end with a chip over Main that also cleared the crossbar.