Glasgow Rangers winger DaMarcus Beasley came on for Nacho Novo in the 77th minute, his first appearance for the Light Blues in over five months as they kept the pressure on Old Firm rivals Celtic with a 3-0 victory over St. Mirren at Love Street in Paisley on Monday night.

Indiana native Beasley, who suffered knee ligament damage in the 3-2 loss against VfB Stuttgart in a Champions’ League Group E match in November, was originally thought to be done for the season, but has recovered just in time to help the Ibrox side compete for the final two trophies of the season, the Scottish Premier League title and the Scottish Cup final against Queen of the South on Saturday.

The visitors broke on top early through leading scorer Kris Boyd, and eventually cruised thanks to a goal from Jean-Claude Darcheville midway through each period.

The win by Rangers has brought them into a tie on points with Glasgow Celtic as the two biggest clubs in Scotland fight it out to the end. However, Celtic holds a +4 goal differential going into their final game away to Dundee United. Meanwhile, Rangers will travel up north to Aberdeen to try and secure a large margin victory, or hope for a Celtic draw or loss.

Beasley’s return also caught the notice of USMNT coach Bob Bradley as he was called up to the squad that will face England, Spain and Argentina in the next three weeks before World Cup qualifying starts against Barbados on June 15th.

Scoring
RAN - Kris Boyd 13 4'
RAN - Jean-Claude Darcheville 9 23'
RAN - Jean-Claude Darcheville 10 70'

Line-ups
SM - Mark Howard; David Barron, Will Haining, Potter, Franco Miranda, Stephen McGinn (Jim Hamilton 56), Hugh Murray, Andy Dorman, Gary Mason, Stephen O'Donnell, Billy Mehmet

RAN - Neil Alexander; Kirk Broadfoot, Christian Dailly, David Weir, Steven Whittaker, Steven Davis, Kevin Thomson, Barry Ferguson, Nacho Novo (DaMarcus Beasley 77), Kris Boyd, Jean-Claude Darcheville (Daniel Cousin 81)