Attendance 9,352
A late Kris Boyd goal rescued a point for Rangers tonight in a hard-fought 1-1 draw with Motherwell at Fir Park.
Ibrox Manager Walter Smith made four changes from Paisley with David Weir, Sasa Papac, Kris Boyd and Kenny Miller replacing Danny Wilson, Steven Smith, Kevin Thomson and Kyle Lafferty at a venue where the Light Blues have not won in three years - since the days of Paul Le Guen, in fact.
On a bitterly cold night in Lanarkshire and on a cow-heap of a pitch it was the home side who were first to threaten in twelve minutes when John Sutton headed over from a Keith Lasley cross.
Seven minutes later Lukas Jutkiewicz's shot on the turn was held by Allan McGregor as 'Well continued to probe for an opener.
Sutton again threatened in 22 minutes when his 25-yard shot was clawed away by McGregor.
Rangers at last created an opening two minutes later when Steve Davis' twenty-yard free-kick curled inches wide of the target.
The goal arrived via another dead-ball in 27 minutes - at the other end - when Tom Hateley (son of Ibrox legend Mark) scored with a superb 25-yard free-kick.
Eight minutes later Boyd's twenty-yard volley from a Miller lay-off was held by home goalkeeper John Ruddy.
It was end-to-end action as the interval approached - Ross Forbes' effort from the edge of the box in 38 minutes was held by McGregor, then two minutes later Lee McCulloch's twenty-yard drive from a Steven Naismith lay-off was parried by by Ruddy.
'Well deserved their interval lead - and recognising that changes were required Walter Smith introduced Nacho Novo in place of Kirk Broadfoot for the restart.
The turning-point of the game arrived in 54 minutes when from a Hateley free-kick to the far post Stephen Craigan steered the ball goalwards before it was turned over the line by Forbes only for linesman John Gilmour to flag for offside.
Sutton's snap-shot on the hour was held by McGregor - then two minutes later Lafferty substituted for Naismith.
Rangers were now pushing the Fir Park men deeper and deeper as the home side effectively adopted a 5-5-0 line-up - from a Steve Davis corner Novo's volley from the edge of the box was held by Ruddy midway through the second-half.
The pressure was unrelenting as the minutes ticked by - one Davis shot from fifteen yards was pushed wide by Ruddy in 76 minutes with Lafferty stretching to make contact, then sixty seconds later Boyd fired over after Steve Jennings headed into his path.
The equaliser finally - and deservedly - arrived in 79 minutes when from a Papac cross Boyd took advantage of hesitancy between Mark Reynolds and his goalkeeper to prod the ball into the net.
There was to be no winner - and afterwards Walter Smith commented:
"We didn't start the game well. Motherwell have had a good run recently and were the better side in the first-half but we were better in the second. We were expecting a hard, physical scrap. A draw was a fair result."
MOTHERWELL Ruddy; Hateley, Craigan, Reynolds, Hammell; Forbes (Murphy 79), Jennings, Lasley, O'Brien; Sutton, Jutkiewicz
UNUSED SUBS Fraser, Humphrey, McGlinchey, Page, McHugh, Saunders
RANGERS McGregor; Broadfoot (Novo 45), Weir, Bougherra, Papac; Whittaker, Davis, McCulloch, Naismith (Lafferty 62); Boyd, Miller
UNUSED SUBS Alexander, Thomson, Little, Wilson, Wylde
REFEREE Calum Murray