MOTHERWELL BOOSTED THEIR hopes of Scottish Premiership survival with a convincing 3-1 victory over Rangers in the first-leg of their play-off encounter.
With Ibrox Stadium full to capacity much was expected of Stuart McCall’s men, but they came up short as Motherwell’s quality shone through.
Having soaked up early pressure from the hosts, Motherwell pounced just before the half hour as Lee Erwin’s shot was deflected beyond his own goalkeeper by Darren McGregor.
Stephen McManus added a second in the final five minutes of the half to give the visitors a commanding lead, the central defender rising unmarked to meet Marvin Johnson’s right-wing free kick.
Two minutes after the restart Rangers’ night got even worse as Lionel Ainsworth was found inside the penalty area following a swift counter attack, and he made no mistake with an emphatic finish past Cameron Bell.
Rangers’ attempts to get back into the game had lacked quality, but they found a lifeline in the tie with seven minutes to play as McGregor atoned for his earlier misdemeanour with a well-placed header.
The defender directed Nicky Law’s corner into the net from six yards, but Rangers still face an uphill battle at Fir Park on Sunday to earn promotion back to the top flight, three years after they were sent to the third tier.
And the cry was no defenders….
Even if rangers were promoted it would be a while before they could compete with the likes of Celtic to be fair
Was looking forward to goin to an old firm next year , ah well leave them Rot for another season no harm
Sean, maybe, just maybe, they go to see Celtic play and don’t bother with the tribute act plying their trade in govan.
Think Scottish football needs rangers to go up, even Celtic park is emptying
Yep I must admit I was hoping the would get tripped up at some stage of that drawn out sequence of play offs.
Celtic and Scottish football could really do with them back alright though. Amazing how Celtic fans keep showing up to watch the cakewalk week in week out. Admirable loyalty to be fair but I think I’d find something better to do with my weekend.
The SFA changed the whole league format for them and the Huns are still struggling!
Rangers badly need to be back in the SPL for the good of Celtic and Scottish football, the rivalry will push them both on.
If they manage to overturn the deficit against Motherwell and go up then they would do well not to relegated back down. They are a very poor team that couldn’t hold a candle to Aberdeen, Inverness or Dundee United let alone Celtic.
a disaster if rangers don’t get back in the top league.
Paul, if they win the playoff, they won’t be getting back anywhere, it will be the first time this club has been in the top league. You’re confusing this shower with rangers 1872-2012
I don’t go along with that line as a Celtic fan if Fergus McCann and Brian Dempsey hadn’t come along at the time they did and our club went the same as rangers, would we claim Celtic weren’t Celtic no we wouldn’t the fact is we need rangers.
If your aunt had b0ll1x and all that. It’s your prerogative though
Ya that’s silly when I hear that argument, it’s still the same old fans, same flags, same bigoted chants, same stadium and even some of the same players, so yes it is effectively the same club
But it’s not the same club, silly.
http://www.uefa.com/teamsandplayers/teams/club=50121/profile/index.html