This was Rangers' last league visit to St Mirren Park before the bulldozers move in early next year and tear the place down. Based on this inept display and shock defeat, you suspect few within Ibrox will mourn the ground's passing.

This was largely stodgy, unpalatable fare, lit up by one moment of inspiration from Stephen McGinn, the St Mirren substitute, but that fact will trouble the home side not one jot. After years of butting heads with the Old Firm with next to nothing to show for their troubles, Gus MacPherson's side celebrated a rare victory at full-time as if they had won the Clydesdale Bank Premier League title itself.

Little wonder. It had been 22 years since St Mirren had last beaten Rangers at Love Street and 17 since they had enjoyed any sort of victory against the Ibrox side. The result had the effect of lifting the Paisley side off the foot of the table - making Aberdeen's dismal weekend even worse - and prevented Rangers from returning to its summit. In truth, it was all the visitors deserved after a strangely subdued performance that stood in stark contrast to their recent impressive form.

The only goal of the game arrived after 76 minutes. Billy Mehmet's cute header inside allowed McGinn, who had entered the field as a replacement just five minutes earlier, to carry the ball forward towards the Rangers goal. Using the run of Craig Dargo as a decoy, McGinn steadied himself before curling a sweet shot that arced beyond Allan McGregor and into the back of the net. McGregor, a surprise recall to the side ahead of Neil Alexander, had precious little to do before and after that strike and may find himself wondering this morning how he still ended up finishing on the losing side.

The goal belatedly woke a hitherto slothful Rangers side from their slumber and sparked the predictable late onslaught. Kris Boyd, a second-half replacement for the ineffective Jean-Claude Darcheville, struck the post with a header as the visitors began a 15-minute bombardment of the St Mirren goal. Kyle Lafferty saw an effort thrashed off the goal line by Steven Robb, Kenny Miller's shot was bravely blocked by Hugh Murray before Steven Davis's attempt was well parried by Mark Howard in the St Mirren net.

In a frantic final few seconds, Will Haining, who passed a late fitness test to take part, capped a courageous individual performance by nodding Kirk Broadfoot's header away to safety before Broadfoot tumbled in the box only to see his hopes for a late penalty dashed by Willie Collum, the referee.

The goal maintained McGinn's remarkable record of scoring in high-profile matches. He had risked the ire of his grandfather Jack, the former Celtic chairman, by scoring on two separate occasions at Celtic Park while his only other senior goal came in a rare St Mirren away victory at Tynecastle last season. The quality of this finish and its heavy significance, both historically and given St Mirren's perilous position in the league table, will surely see it ranked as a career high to date.

That this would eventually prove to be an afternoon to forget for Rangers became apparent even in the game's early exchanges as St Mirren pushed forward and carried the game to their illustrious visitors. Franco Miranda's suspension prompted a defensive reshuffle that saw the home side switch to a 3-5-2 formation, with Gary Mason adding an extra shield in front of his defence while simultaneously keeping a close eye on the movements of Pedro Mendes.

That protection allowed the likes of Garry Brady and Andy Dorman to motor forward to support Mehmet and Dennis Wyness in attack and, while McGregor was hardly tested, it did at least give the contest something of an unexpected competitive edge.

Rangers contributed largely to the evenly-balanced nature of proceedings with a performance as sluggish as their previous weekend's demolition of Hibernian had been sprightly. There was little sign of the slick interchanges that had been a feature of their play at Easter Road.

Broadfoot was given little of the space he had exploited to devastating effect while Mendes, normally Rangers' most effective creative outlet, was shackled by an early booking and the ever-present Mason. On the rare occasions that Rangers did look like threatening the home goal they found a St Mirren defence in an uncompromising mood, Haining and Scott Cuthbert, in particular, repeatedly thrusting their heads into situations where others would think twice about sticking in a boot.

Rangers looked ponderous and heavy-legged, their only decent chances in the first half falling to Kevin Thomson although Howard was equal to both attempts. Thomson's afternoon ended prematurely early in the second half, the midfielder carried off by his team-mates after coming off second best in a crunching 50:50 challenge with Brady.

Rangers began to turn the screw in the second half but with little improvement in their finishing. Madjid Bougherra headed wide from a corner, Miller saw a shot bravely blocked by Dorman before Broadfoot scooped a half-chance over the crossbar.

McGinn's intervention sparked a frantic assault on the St Mirren goal but the home side survived. They move to a new stadium in January, the annals of 114 years at Love Street augmented by one last glorious entry.