Philippe Clement discusses why he hooked the Rangers...

Philippe Clement discusses why he hooked the Rangers duo against St. Mirren at halftime.

Philippe Clement has taken time to explain why Todd Cantwell and Scott Wright were substituted at half-time against St Mirren.

Rangers put in a dogged display to grind out a slender victory in Paisley as they closed the gap on Celtic at the summit of the Scottish

Premiership to two points – for a couple of hours at least.

With help from John Lundstram, Cyriel Dessers scored the game’s lone goal, slipping past Zach Hemming, the Buddies goalkeeper.

From a Rangers perspective, not much else stood out as the performance was hindered by windy

weather and a subpar field, which Clement criticized after the game.

But a win is a win and that is all that matters. Sky Sports reporter Luke Chanley spoke to Clement after the game and asked him

why Cantwell and Wright were replaced after just 45 minutes by Tom Lawrence and Ross McCausland.

Cantwell has been hooked on more than one occasion by Clement at the interval or even earlier but the Belgian stressed the decision

was nothing to do with the Englishman or Wright’s performances.

After making five substitutions this afternoon, the manager distributed the minutes among the matchday team,

as Philippe Clement maintains were tactical considerations.

The 49-year-old clarified, saying: “It’s distinct things.” It was somewhat of a tactical move as well as an attempt to introduce some

novelty. It matters who wins games with each other, not who initiates or ends the game.

Additionally, Wright and Cantwell, the two players that left the game at that point, contributed

significantly to the first half. We are forming a team, and this is a team performance.

“I want to see that until the end of the season because I see it more and more—everyone working hard for the team,

celebrating together, and fighting together.”