RANGERS have been handed a major fitness boost after it was confirmed that defender Borna Barisic didn't pick up a knock during their win over St Johnstone.

The Croatian was replaced by Nathan Patterson for the closing stages of the Premiership clash as the champions maintained their four point lead at the top of the table.

Boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst later confirmed that Barisic was suffering from an illness and hadn't been forced off due to any injury issue.

Goals in either half from Alfredo Morelos and Ryan Kent clinched a comfortable win for Van Bronckhorst's side to extend their unbeaten run under the Dutchman.

But he will still demand further improvement from his side ahead of the visit of Dundee United this weekend.

Van Bronckhorst said: "The way we started, the first 15, 20 minutes, we created so many chances to go 1-0 up.

"After that we didn’t create as much because they were defending really deep and it was difficult for us to find our spaces.

"The goal just before half-time really helped us to go into half-time and change a little bit our position on the pitch.

"The second half, we created the spaces we wanted and started it well. We scored a good goal, a very high speed goal.

"It was a good move from Morelos and Ryan was there to score. I need my forwards to be in the box when there is danger and they did really well.

"After that we controlled the game and tried to score more. In the end, we lost a little bit of control.

"We lost the ball in midfield which normally doesn’t happen. Those moments were maybe a couple but overall I’m really pleased with the performance.

"We knew it was going to be hard today but in the end two goals and the three points we wanted."