TOMMY Wright’s name isn’t really one of those which has been linked with the managerial vacancy at Rangers of late due to the decidedly patchy form which his St Johnstone side have been displaying this season.

That, though, may well change in the weeks ahead if Wright’s team keep performing as impressively as they did at Ibrox yesterday and racking up such outstanding results.

The McDiarmid Park club recorded their first league victory at the Govan ground since 1971 – some 46 years and 31 games ago – and, what is more, they did so in some style. Nobody in the 47,923-strong crowd could begrudge them their triumph at the end of 90 minutes they dominated.

Far more high-profile individuals – including, to name just a handful, Sam Allardyce, Frank de Boer, Derek McInnes, Alex McLeish, Alan Pardew and Gus Poyet – have all been tipped to succeed Pedro Caixinha since the Portuguese coach was sacked back at the end of October.

But Wright? He has hardly been mentioned in connection with the Rangers post in recent weeks. That wasn’t the case when Mark Warburton departed in back in February, but his side have failed to scale the heights of previous campaigns this term and it has unquestionably counted against him.

If St Johnstone, who drew level on points with fifth-placed Hearts as a result of this historic result, continue to perform with the same heart and intelligence as they did against Rangers, then there may be more of a clamour for the Northern Irishman to be brought in.

Graeme Murty, the interim manager who has overseen consecutive wins over Aberdeen, Ross County and Hibernian, has his admirers among the Rangers support and many would like to see the youth coach given his chance until at least the end of the season. But he was out-thought by his counterpart on the sidelines here as his players were outfought on the park.

Wright admitted he had sent his charges out to exploit the defensive frailty in the Rangers team which he had identified before kick-off and attempted to get the home fans to turn against their team. His plan worked to perfection.

“The Rangers supporters are demanding,” he said. “They expect their team to always be on the front foot. When you have a crowd of 48,000 and attacks break down they can get on top of you. We had to try and exploit that as a team and I think we did so.

“Even with the run they were on, winning four in a row, I always expect my team to beat anybody. I do think there is a vulnerability in terms of conceding goals. That was evident today even though the goals were pretty decent from our point of view.

The Perth club, thrashed 3-0 at home by Aberdeen in midweek and missing both Murray Davidson and Michael O’Halloran, fell behind in just the fifth minute when Alfredo Morelos scored his third goal in as many games and his 11th of the season from an acute angle.

Many inside the ground anticipated a comfortable home win at that early stage in proceedings given that Rangers came into the game on the back of four consecutive victories. How wrong they would be.

After that, St Johnstone impressed greatly. They drew level just five minutes later when Blair Alston capitalised on a poor headed clearance from Bruno Alves before lashing a left-foot shot beyond Wes Foderingham from the edge of the area.

Wright felt that quick response to falling behind was crucial to the final outcome. “It was important that we got back to 1-1 as quickly as we did because the longer it’s 1-0 the more confident Rangers would’ve got,” he said. “If you get back and stay in the game it can be a little bit edgy because they have a lot of young players in their team.”

The visitors contained their hosts brilliantly in the remainder of the first half without offering a great deal going forward. Central midfielders Chris Millar and Paton never strayed far from the St Johnstone back four and Rangers were unable to break them down.

But, in the second half, Wright’s side grew in confidence and threatened far more. They edged in front in the 61st minute when Liam Craig picked out Denny Johnstone with a superb delivery from wide on the left flank. The striker rose completely unchallenged in the penalty box and headed into the top left corner.

Murty removed the ineffectual Daniel Candeias almost immediately and threw on Niko Kranjcar. But the Croat was unable to provide the invention that Rangers so desperately required going forward.

It was the away team who would benefit more from the introduction of two replacements. David Wotherspoon and Graham Cummins combined brilliantly to net their third goal shortly after replacing Stefan Scougall and Johnstone respectively. The strike was the cue for many of the home supporters to head for the exits.

“The performance deserved the points,” said Wright. “I don’t think you’ll see a better trio of goals in one game, they were all superb from our point of view. We’d talked after Aberdeen about being brave on the ball and we had good periods of possession against a side that’s on top form. So delighted would be an understatement.

“We have given ourselves a great result here. This league is so tight. We are supposed to be having a poor season and we are six points off Hibs with a game in hand who are having a poor season. We are now ahead of Motherwell who are having a great season. Maybe it is the St Johnstone way to take one step forward and two back at times.”