Billy Dodds was the life and soul of Rangers' title party at McDiarmid Park with a double strike to leave St Johnstone the latest team to be left trailing by the Scottish Champions.

The Scotland international striker geared up for Wednesday night's friendly fixture with Holland in Arnhem with goals on 43 and 60 minutes to deny Saints any thoughts of gatecrashing the occasion.

Celtic's 1-1 draw with Hibernian at Parkhead on Saturday had succeeded in confirming Rangers as Champions without kicking a ball - leading to an inevitable sense of anti-climax against the Saints.

Yet there was no disguising the joy at the end as Rangers skipper Lorenzo Amoruso led the players onto the field for a champagne-fuelled lap of honour for the 7,000-plus visiting supporters.

It is a second successive title success for Rangers manager Dick Advocaat who has transformed the Ibrox club since his arrival from PSV Eindhoven lifting them an emphatic 20 points clear of Celtic.

During the summer the introduction of John Barnes as head coach alongside Kenny Dalglish signalled optimism at Parkhead, but instead they have finished a distant second with barely a fight.

'Happy Easter Champions' read one banner marking how early the Championship race has run its course with Rangers more than a month away from the Scottish Cup final against Aberdeen.

Certainly it was a lacklustre opening by Rangers with the only energy being demonstrated by their huge travelling support who were clearly in the mood to celebrate regardless of the outcome.

Among their number in the East Stand was Dutch striker Michael Mols who suffered a knee ligament injury in European action at Bayern Munich but is now firmly on the way to recovery.

Rangers captain Amoruso glanced a header wide in the third minute from an Andrei Kanchelskis corner, while Darren Dods' challenge on Rod Wallace denied him a shooting chance.

Amoruso earned a booking for crashing into Kieran McAnespie on the touchline which prompted a brief exchange of words between Dick Advocaat and fourth official Kenny Clark.

It was St Johnstone, who slipped to ninth after yesterday's results, who were taking the initiative, Paddy Connolly flicking a header just over from a Danny Griffin corner.

John O'Neil put an effort wide on the half-hour, while in Saints' next attack Keith O'Halloran snatched at an opening at the edge of the area sending the ball well over the bar.

On 40 minutes youngster Kiegan Parker, making his first Saints start, was played in by O'Neil but lost his balance as he shot and screwed his eventual effort wide of the mark.

That was to be punished two minutes later in clinical fashion by Dodds as Rangers moved ahead just before the interval with their first strike on target.

Jorg Albertz's low pass released Dodds who produced a stunning first-time shot to defeat Saints reserve keeper Stephen Robertson at his near post from the tightest of angles.

The Rangers faithful were clearly enjoying themselves now with cries of 'Kenny must stay' and chants of Dalglish's trademark cliche 'Maybe aye, maybes nae'.

Their team were starting to show the same relaxed manner on the field, Amoruso dragging a shot wide after an audacious dummy from substitute Seb Rozental, on at half-time for Wallace.

Rangers have been unbeaten on their travels in the league this season, their only defeat at home to Dundee, and as soon as the deadlock was broken Saints' challenge folded.

After 58 minutes, Rangers almost doubled their advantage when Kanchelskis' corner picked out Barry Ferguson who guided his header narrowly off-target.

On the hour mark however, Rangers were two ahead with a move which illustrated the quality which runs through their team started as it was in their own penalty area by Scott Wilson.

His raking pass found Claudio Reyna who slid in Rozental, the Chilean forward reaching the byline before dragging back a superb cross for Dodds to tap in his second from close range.

Tempers frayed on 67 minutes with virtually every player on both teams becoming involved in an angry melee after McAnespie fouled Van Bronckhorst forcing his substitution.

Ferguson was the first Rangers player to make his feelings known and was yellow-carded, but several others, notably Albertz and Amoruso appeared fortunate to escape a caution.

It was proving a surprisingly stormy finish given how little was at stake, O'Halloran and Reyna taking the overall tally of bookings to seven with two further fouls.

A Gary Bollan error almost gifted Rangers a third only for Albertz to fire wide, before the German was upended by substitute Gerry McMahon booked within seconds of taking the field.

Former Rangers defender Bollan was then on hand to block an effort from another substitute Tugay Kerimoglu, while Dodds spurned a hat-trick chance by heading wide on 87 minutes.

St Johnstone: Robertson, Bollan, Weir, Griffin, Dods, O'Neil, Kane, O'Halloran, McAnespie (McMahon 78), Connolly, Parker (Millar 83).

Subs Not Used: Gow, McBride, Frail.

Booked: Griffin, McAnespie, O'Halloran, McMahon.

Rangers: Klos, Numan, Wilson, Amoruso, Reyna, Van Bronckhorst (McCann 67), Albertz, Ferguson, Kanchelskis (Kerimoglu 75), Wallace (Rozental 46), Dodds.

Subs Not Used: Brown, Malcolm.

Booked: Amoruso, Numan, Ferguson, Reyna.

Goals: Dodds 42, 60.

Att: 10,016

Ref: Michael McCurry (Scotland).