Five-goal Kenny Miller gave Monaco plenty to think about with a scoring spree that lifted the gloom from Ibrox.

	Advocaat: His side scored seven to ease their woes (RossKinnaird/Allsport)

With the Champions League crunch clash with the French champions just a few days away, Dick Advocaat's team brutally swept aside St Mirren to restore their battered confidence levels at the perfect moment.

Miller had scored four within 32 minutes and added another 13 minutes from time. Substitutes Billy Dodds and Neil McCann were the other scorers, while Ricky Gillies notched a consolation effort for the Buddies.

Miller's feat matched that of a man with whom until recently he had a lot in common - Marco Negri. The Italian scored five against Dundee United early in the 1997-98 season before lapsing into a bit-part role at Ibrox.

Until last month that was all Miller was, despite his promise.

Perhaps the most startling statistic of the day was the one that showed Miller has started just twice since his £2million summer move from Hibernian.

In those two starts, against St Johnstone and Dundee United, he had duly delivered with a goal.

Today it took the man who had spent so many European nights watching from the stands - the 19th man in a squad of 18 - just two minutes to keep the sequence going.

Miller had set up the chance himself, winning a corner with a deflected shot - and when Saints managed to clear only as far as where he was lurking just inside the area they had left themselves vulnerable.

The resulting shot was not a belter but it looped over everyone to plop into the net.

The second was goal was a more pleasing to the eye.

Ronald de Boer, the man who has admitted he has not cut the mustard for Rangers so far, was the architect.

His ball inside the full-back sent Arthur Numan away down the left, and Miller slid in ahead of his marker at the far post.

That was in the 24th minute, and the clock had hardly ticked any further before Miller completed his hat-trick with the pick of the bunch.

Again it came from a left-wing cross, although this time it was Jorg Albertz who supplied it for Miller to leap into the air to plant a header past Derek Scrimgour.

The goalkeeper might have thought he had kept out the fourth when he got some body in the way of Miller's shot after Barry Ferguson had put him in. But the ball was destined for the back of the net and duly bounced there.

Four goals in just 32 minutes - cometh the half-hour, cometh the man as all talk of an Ibrox crisis seemed such stale news.

Those goals equalled the recent exploits of Henrik Larsson and Michael Mols, and it was significant that the latter was back in the side for the first time since the defeat in Galatasaray at the end of September.

It is easy to see why even a non-match fit Mols is so important to Rangers, because his touch and ability to turn is international class.

Time and time he lost his man, and it was only his rustiness that prevented him from enjoying a first-half goal.

Albertz too was back from injury and made his presence count in midfield. De Boer went off at half-time but showed enough to suggest he could have a big part to play on Tuesday.

Dodds replaced de Boer and could have had his name on the scoresheet within seconds. He was just wide then but made no mistake in the 57th minute when he steamed in to prod home a low cross from the left - the sort of strike he was banging in for fun not long ago.

The supplier on that occasion was none other than deposed captain Lorenzo Amoruso, who was sent charging down the left wing - of all places - by Ferguson. He seemed to be enjoying his football more as well and almost scored with a header from a corner.

Mols could have made it six when Albertz set him up with a straightforward chance. But the Dutchman's sights are not quite adjusted yet, and he blazed over.

He was substituted straight afterwards, and the applause he received as he trotted off to go back into storage until Tuesday showed how much his overall contribution had been appreciated.

Miller made it six for the team and five for himself when he drilled the ball in from the edge of the area, making him the first Scot to hit five since Paul Sturrock netted that number for Dundee United against Morton in 1984.

Albertz set up substitute Neil McCann for the seventh in stoppage time.

Spies from Monaco were given few glad tidings to take home apart from a sloppy goal conceded in first-half stoppage time when the Rangers rearguard allowed Graham Fenton to cross for Ricky Gillies to turn the ball past Jesper Christiansen all too easily.

That moment and two efforts from Scott Walker that needed Christiansen to make spectacular saves were the only opportunities for St Mirren, who were simply out-classed and looked every inch a team from the wrong end of the division.