Loan watch: Defoe on the spot in Gers win

Defoe won two of four penalties awarded to the Gers during their convincing 4-0 win over Scottish Premiership strugglers St Mirren on Saturday.

Captain Tavernier scored two and missed one before passing up the opportunity to possibly net a hat-trick by allowing Defoe to take the fourth.

And the 38-year-old striker notched his second goal since joining Rangers on an 18-month loan deal in January.

In an interview with RangersTV, Defoe said: “It was very pleasing because, as a forward, you want to score. The most important thing is to get the three points but, as a forward, you get judged on scoring goals.

“I was surprised when he gave me the ball because he was on his hat-trick – not many people would do that! Credit to him, he is a great guy – he wanted me to get my first Ibrox goal.” 

Cherries goalkeeper Jordan Holmes was an unused substitute for St Mirren in front of a crowd of 49,463 at Ibrox.

Also in the Scottish Premiership, Mikael Ndjoli played the full 90 minutes in Kilmarnock’s 2-1 home defeat by Hearts on Friday.

Charlie Seaman played his part as Dundee United maintained their promotion push with a 2-1 home win over Scottish Championship rivals Greenock Morton. Seaman’s Cherries teammate Keelan O’Connell was an unused substitute for Morton.

Tyrone Mings was handed his Aston Villa debut in their 0-0 draw against Championship strugglers Reading at the Madejski Stadium.

Mings partnered former Cherries skipper Tommy Elphick at the heart of the Villans defence as they maintained their push for the play-offs.

Marc Pugh replaced Kamil Grosicki six minutes from the end of Hull City’s 2-0 home victory over Stoke City in the Championship, while Connor Mahoney was an unused substitute as Birmingham registered a 2-0 win against Nottingham Forest.

Aaron Ramsdale played in front of a crowd of more than 30,000 as a dogged AFC Wimbledon suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat at the hands of League One high-fliers Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.

Alex Dobre came close to breaking the deadlock with a fierce left-foot strike for Yeovil in their 1-0 defeat at Stevenage in League Two.

Brad Smith featured for Seattle Sounders in their 7-1 defeat by MLS Cup winners Atlanta United in a behind-closed-doors pre-season friendly at Titan Stadium in California.

Defender Corey Jordan was handed his debut by Eastbourne Borough in their 2-0 defeat at Truro City in National League South.

Tyrell Hamilton came off the bench in the 89^th minute in Salisbury’s 2-2 draw at Hendon in Southern Premier League South, while James Boote was a second-half substitute in Poole’s 3-0 win over Kings Langley.