Rangers picked up a good away victory today but can count themselves lucky to get the three points in a game where Motherwell deserved so much more.
Right from the off Motherwell took the game to Rangers and were unlucky not to take the lead inside the second minute when a Brian Kerr shot came off the bar. That chance came after Motherwell had a good penalty claim turned down when the ball appeared to come off the hand of Barry Ferguson.
Rangers didn’t have any sort of chance until mid-way through the first half when an attempted clearance from Motherwell hit off Thomas Buffel and nearly went over Graeme Smith and into the net but the ball went just over.
Another couple of chances came shortly after, firstly a header from Bob Malcolm was deflected over and Smith made a fine save from a Lovenkrands shot.
Motherwell were the better team in the first half though and were causing problems for the Rangers defence. Their best chance came when a Scott McDonald shot was desperately cleared off the line by Sotiris Kyrgiakos.
Shortly after Rangers thought they had took an undeserved lead. Lovenkrands finished off a well worked move involving Thomas Buffel but the goal was chopped off unfairly in my opinion for offside and Rangers were denied the lead.
Buffel had the first chance in the second half and really should’ve buried the ball when it fell to him six yards out but he somehow manage to put it over the net when it looked easier to score.
Rangers didn’t have to wait much longer for the lead though and it was on form Lovenkrands who was the goal hero again. He hit the ball into the back of the net with great conviction after Marvin Andrews header set him up.
Unfortunately for Lovenkrands though he wasn’t to play much more of a part in the game when he got carried off in a stretcher after landing awkwardly after going up for a header.
Motherwell had a great chance to equalise in the 65th minute of the game, ex Celtic player Phil O’Donnell’s shot was superbly saved by Waterreus who had to be at full stretch to keep the ball out of the Rangers net.
Waterreus again was the Rangers hero when he saved well from a Scott McDonald shot from inside the box. This was to prove to be Motherwell’s best chance of an equaliser and Rangers hung on for the win and three valuable points.
This win has taken Rangers to within 1 point of Hibernian and the brink of moving up to third place. They are still 10 points behind Hearts however and face a tough fight to try and catch them for the second Champions League place.
Alex McLeish will be happy with this result for now though and now faces what on paper should be an easy home game against Livingston next Saturday. McLeish will also be happy to see Dado Prso make his return today after being out injured for the past two months.
Motherwell: Graeme Smith, Corrigan, Craigan, Kinniburgh, Hammell, Kerr, O’Donnell, McCormack (Fitzpatrick 87), Foran, Hamilton (McBride 79), Scott McDonald.
Subs Not Used: Meldrum, Fagan, Maguire, Darren Lee Smith, Reynolds.
Rangers: Waterreus, Malcolm, Kyrgiakos, Andrews, Murray, Smith, Ferguson, Buffel (Prso 64), Burke, Boyd, Lovenkrands (Novo 70).
Subs Not Used: Klos, Hemdani, Hutton, Alex Rae, McCormack.
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