A Carlos Pena double helped Rangers to a 3-0 Ladbrokes Scottish Premiership win over 10-man St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park.
The enigmatic Gers forward's fine close-range finish in the 27th minute was out of kilter with a poor first-45 minutes and the game swung further towards the visitors in the 71st minute when Saints skipper Steven Anderson was sent off by referee Don Robertson for picking up his second yellow card, for a foul on Rangers striker Alfredo Morelos.
James Tavernier again provided the assist for Pena's second in the 78th minute with another fine cross from the right before midfielder Graham Dorrans added a third to take the visitors to within three points of Celtic and Aberdeen, who both play on Saturday.
Rangers remain odds-against at 11/10 with Sky Bet for a top-two finish in the Scottish Premiership.
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Boss Pedro Caixinha described Rangers' 3-0 win at St Johnstone as the best collective performance of his tenure.
Caixinha, who took over at Ibrox in March, said: "I think it was the best collective performance since we arrived. Very compact, very addicted to the game plan.
"Everybody at the same time knew what they needed to do.
"Quality and keeping possessions, attacking spaces when it was needed - and fighting collectively and defensively.
"So it was the best collective performance. And the cherry on the top of the cake is a clean sheet.
"We want the team to perform like this all the time.
"We didn't give up spaces, didn't give freedom for them to counter attack.
"That is something we worked at very hard all week and the boys understood it very well."
St Johnstone boss Tommy Wright was "really happy" with the display but not the outcome with Anderson's dismissal pivotal.
He said: "I thought up to 70 minutes were slightly the better side.
"They put one cross in the box in the first- alf and we should deal with it better.
"We had numerous opportunities getting behind them but the final ball or finish wasn't good enough and up until the sending off we were dominant although they were still getting us on the counter.
"The red card totally changes the game.
"I have seen the first yellow card and if there is a level of consistency there should be a dozen yellow cards at corners kicks.
"Steven Anderson backs into Bruno Alves which he is entitled to do and he pulls him out of the way so he is the aggressor.
"Ando is then blocked and the referee decides it is two yellows when probably he could give them a warning.
"The second yellow, Ando should know better, he gets caught wrong side, there is minimum touch on him but Morelos is going to go down and he does and the referee had no option but to send him off.
"And with the quality Rangers have they created a few opportunities that enabled them to increase their lead to 3-0".
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