STEVEN GERRARD admits Rangers must reduce their card count after a ten-man win over St Mirren at Ibrox.

The Light Blues dropped two Premiership points against Aberdeen last weekend after Alfredo Morelos was sent off for a flick out at defender Scott McKenna.

That dismissal was overturned on appeal and the Colombian opened the scoring against the Saints before Connor Goldson headed home a second to clinch the points.

Rangers couldn’t add to their tally, however, and had to settle for what they had after Ross McCrorie was shown a straight red card on the half hour mark.

Defender Borna Barisic saw his Gers debut cut short as he was replaced by James Tavernier in the second half to ensure Gerrard didn’t lose another man.

The 38-year-old was outspoken in the aftermath of Morelos’ dismissal against the Dons but had no complaints as McCrorie was punished for a tackle on Nicolai Brock-Madsen.

Gerrard said: “I’m very happy with the result and performance in the circumstances. Again, we’ve got down to 10 men.

“I thought that was the correct decision. The referee got that one right.

“The response from my team, every single one of them rolled their sleeves up and did what they had to do.

“I was pleased with the clean sheet in the circumstances. It’s a positive result for us. I would have liked to keep 11 on the pitch and maybe win the game more emphatically but at the end of the day it’s all about three points.

“It was completely different to last week when we felt hard done by, said our piece and got justice in terms of the decision being overturned.

“I thought the officials were really, really good today. They got the decision spot on and we’ve got no complaints.

“I’ve spoken to the team and praised them for the result and clean sheet. But I’ve also spoken about discipline and composure out there.

“It’s difficult enough with 11 men. We are picking up too many red and yellow cards for my liking. But we’ll learn, grow and keep going.”

Rangers cruised into a 2-0 lead and looked like kicking on and recording a commanding victory on their first home league outing of the campaign.

That didn’t turn out to be the case for the Gers but Gerrard was pleased with another solid showing on the back of the Europa League triumph against Maribor in midweek.

He said: “You always expect Alan Stubbs’ teams to give it a go. I felt we were in control of the game and looked a really good team. I didn’t really see us in danger at any point until we went to 10 men.

“They had a chance when they cut in and hit the crossbar. That aside, we were quite comfortable. We did extremely well with 10 men because I didn’t see us under the cosh for any big periods.

“The good thing for me was realising that if we’re on the back of a European night when we’ve put a hell of a shift in, then I can make some changes subtly to the 11. I can trust the players who come in.

“If we carry on this run in Europe, I’m going to need that. I’ll need the whole 23 or 24 players to be ready if they are called upon.”