Nathan Lowndes deprived Rangers of victory at McDiarmid Park just as Tony Vidmar had again looked to have emerged the Ibrox outfit's unlikely saviour.

Having been on the field for barely a minute, Lowndes struck in the 86th minute when it appeared Rangers had overcome the loss of skipper Lorenzo Amoruso and a missed Jorg Albertz penalty.

Amoruso will have a scan on Wednesday to establish the seriousness of an ankle injury collected after a nasty accidental clash with his own team-mate Craig Moore.

That 27th-minute incident compounded Rangers' misery as the usually reliable Albertz had seen a spot-kick saved by St Johnstone goalkeeper Alan Main five minutes earlier.

Rangers remained frustrated until the 58th minute when Vidmar, who has proved an unexpected source of important goals this term, produced his best yet of a productive campaign.

His superb left-foot curler was one of the few moments of quality in a bad-tempered match, but it was not to prove enough to win the game as substitute Lowndes had the final say with his first touch.

The late goal means Rangers' lead over Celtic at the top of the Scottish Premier League is now eight points and retains the Parkhead club's slim title aspirations.

Paddy Connolly was a surprise starter for Saints as their sole attacker with regular frontmen Lowndes and Graeme Jones both only on the bench due to a lack of match fitness.

Rangers opted to leave Seb Rozental on the bench throughout, the Chilean international's much-heralded comeback put off for another night, with veteran Gordon Durie starting the contest.

That meant no place for Neil McCann while recent Turkish recruit Tugay Kerimoglu was also again among the substitutes as Rangers sought to repeat their recent Scottish Cup win at this venue.

Saints have not won a league match at home since August 15 last year but started brightly enough, John Paul McBride putting through Connolly for a fifth-minute angled drive just wide.

Rangers were slow off the blocks and their first attack of note came in the 16th minute when Andrei Kanchelskis' snap shot was well held by Main after Vidmar's pass.

After 22 minutes Albertz played in Durie who looked to have taken the ball too wide when he was upended by Main, a needless challenge resulting in a clear penalty.

Albertz assumed responsibility but by his standards his shot was tame and too close to Main, who dived low to his left to save and hold the ball to preserve the deadlock.

If Rangers were shaken by that they were reeling five minutes later when in clearing from John O'Neil, centre-halves Moore and Amoruso collided badly.

At first it looked as if the Australian had come off worse, but after treatment Moore recovered and it was Amoruso who was carried off with what looked like a serious ankle injury.

Paul Kane fired over while Rangers were down to 10 men before the Italian defender was replaced by Barry Nicholson, with Vidmar shifting across to centre-half to fill the void.

The game became scrappy in the lead-up to the break, though Saints continued to be positive in their outlook, neat play from Connolly feeding O'Neil for a shot that Klos saved comfortably.

McCann was brought on for Kanchelskis after 53 minutes and at once Rangers seemed to offer more of a threat, Durie rifling a shot wide of target.

Substitute McCann was brought down by Darren Dods and from the resulting free-kick by Giovanni Van Bronckhorst, Rangers found the breakthrough in stunning fashion.

The ball looked to have drifted harmlessly away from goal when it reached Vidmar, who spun expertly before curling a fierce shot into the top right-hand corner of the net to make it 1-0.

That 58th-minute strike increased the tempo of proceedings and after a late Dods challenge on McCann several players became involved in the aftermath.

Referee John Underhill managed to calm matters by booking Dods, though he was surrounded by Saints players as he did so, and home manager Sandy Clark was spoken to after the incident.

Rangers almost doubled their advantage after 77 minutes when Albertz found the time and space on the left to cross for Barry Ferguson, but his shot was placed wide.

After 81 minutes Saints substitute Jones, on for Keith O'Halloran, produced an acrobatic effort which saw the ball loop over the bar as Rangers held firm.

But on 86 minutes Saints hit back just as their hopes looked to have faded, Danny Griffin's free-kick finding Lowndes via Jones' touch and he made no mistake.

In injury-time Lowndes almost went one better as he seized on to a poor backpass by Arthur Numan, but after rounding Klos he fired into the side-netting and it was honours even.

Teams

St Johnstone: Main, Frail, Dods, Weir, Bollan, O'Neil (Lowndes 85), Kane, Griffin, McBride (McCluskey 90), O'Halloran (Jones 69), Connolly.

Subs Not Used: Ferguson, Lauchlan.

Booked: Main, Frail, McBride, Dods, Griffin.

Goals: Lowndes 86.

Rangers: Klos, Numan, Moore, Amoruso (Nicholson 30), Vidmar, Albertz, Van Bronckhorst, Ferguson, Kanchelskis (McCann 53),Wallace, Durie.

Subs Not Used: Charbonnier, Rozental, Tugay.

Booked: Durie.

Goals: Vidmar 58.

Att: 9,605

Ref: John Underhill (Scotland).