Gers Snatch Point at Fir Park

Rangers needed to rely on talisman Kris Boyd to dig Rangers out of deep trouble after a stuttering display by the Gers at Fir Park against Motherwell. Manager Walter Smith baffled some sections of the supporters by playing Steven Naismith and Steven Whittaker ahead of Nacho Novo and John Fleck on the flanks. What was most notable from Fir Park on Wednesday was the awful pitch that the players had to play on, quite embarrasing actually, and I hope the Well are penalised for yet another awful surface.

Hateley’s free-kick in the first-half

The first-half was pretty much dominated by Craig Brown’s side who kept the ball well and pressed Rangers very high up the pitch. The closest Rangers came in the first-half was from a Steven Davis free-kick and a few long-range efforts. The Well were certainly beginning to cause a few problems and Lukas Jutkiewicz’  long-range effort bounced up and was saved comfortably in the end by McGregor. Youngster Ross Forbes had a smashing left-foot drive from the edge of the box that was also well held by McGregor. The goal however, came after 28 minutes when former Rangers striker Mark Hateley’s son, Tom, fired home a stunning free-kick from 25 yards. Hateley, has been impressive this season under Gannon and Brown, but unfortunately has been given a consistant run in one position with stints in Central midfield and at right back.

Rangers still  hadn’t even turned up when Motherwell were denied a second goal when Tom Hateley’s free-kick was met by Stephen Craigan who was completely un-marked and his shot towards goal was turned in by Ross Forbes, video replays showed the goal was well onside and Craig Brown was fuming afterwards. To our annoyance, this didn’t even spark any life into Rangers and Motherwell continued to dominate the game. However, with 10 minutes remaining, Sasa Papac controlled the ball well on the dodgy surface to produce a decent right-foot cross which was turned into the net by Kris Boyd after Mark Reynolds hesitated in defence. Even after pegging Motherwell back, Rangers still didn’t roll up their sleeves to try and win the game.

Overall, I’m still fuming at the performance. The lack of technical ability in the side is staggering, there is no pace and we’ve been crying out for a winger for the last 5 years. The application of the players was also not acceptable, I can tolerate players having bad games as long as there is 100% fight and effort – sadly, that wasn’t on display last night. I can certainly say, my patience is wearing thin for some of the current players at Rangers.