Attendance 8,967
Rangers had not won at Fir Park for three games, since
March 2001 to be precise, and indeed before today
Motherwell were unbeaten in League fixtures on their
own ground since December 21 – and the pitch itself
perhaps gave a clue as to the reason, bare and patchy.
Manager Alex McLeish made four changes from last
Sunday with Frank De Boer, Hamed Namouchi, Paulo
Vanoli and Steven Thompson replacing Zurab
Khizanishvili, Bob Malcolm, Peter Lovenkrands and
Ronald De Boer in an injury-ravaged side. On the bench
were youngsters Alex Walker, Charlie Adam and Ross
McCormack.
It was the home side who were first to threaten, an
Alex Burns solo run on the left being cut out by
Stefan Klos with Scott McDonald hovering in thirteen
minutes.
Two minutes later Klos blocked a Steven Craig header
from Shaun Fagan’s cross.
The game exploded in 23 minutes when a throw-in found
Michael Mols and Paul Quinn in a pointless
confrontation. Referee John Rowbotham for once
displayed a modicum of common sense in contenting
himself with a lecture for both players.
‘Well continued to make the running – Allan Hutton
blocking Burns’ shot from a Craig pass five minutes
later, then from the resultant Jason Dair corner
Quinn’s header produced a superb save from Klos,
touching the ball over the bar.
Rangers at last began to make an impression, former
Ibrox goalkeeper Gordon Marshall holding Namouchi’s
25-yard volley in 33 minutes, then proving equal to a
Stephen Hughes drive from a Vanoli pass two minutes
later.
The opening goal arrived just before the interval –
Hughes squeezing the ball home after Michael Mols had
laid a Craig Moore pass into his path.
Maurice Ross replaced Allan Hutton at half-time, the
youngster having been booked seconds before the
interval for a foul on Craig.
Jason Dair (nephew of the late, great Jim Baxter) came
close to levelling the scoreline in 52 minutes with a
twenty-yard shot from a McDonald pass that was just
wide of the target, and then on the hour Steven
Hammell saw his free-kick held by Klos.
Rangers moved up a gear as the second-half progressed,
Steven Thompson moving onto a Hughes pass in 68
minutes and cutting in from the left before rifling a
twenty-yard drive that was held by Marshall.
Sixty seconds later Marshall again came to the home
side’s rescue with an instinctive save from a Michael
Mols header from a cross from Maurice Ross.
The refereeing had been bizarre to say the least, and
when Derek Clarkson fouled Craig Moore in 72 minutes
incredibly Rowbotham waved play on – the ‘Well
substitute coming close with a 22-yard drive that was
just too high.
There was a welcome debut for Light Blue youngster
Alex Walker who replaced Hamed Namouchi immediately
afterwards.
Four minutes later there was an even greater blunder
by Rowbotham when Frank de Boer, whilst attempting to
shepherd the ball out of play, was shoved in the back
by Alex Burns, who sent the Ranger crashing into the
advertising hoardings. De Boer was understandably
angered by the challenge, and shoved the Motherwell
player in return. For this Frank was yellow-carded,
but astonishingly Burns walked away scot-free.
The bookings count was now five yellow cards for
Rangers, none for ‘Well – an incredible statistic
considering that the home side were by a distance the
more physical outfit in what had certainly not been a
dirty game.
Rowbotham finally managed to remember that he was
allowed to book Motherwell players as well – Dair
being yellow-carded for a foul on Walker in 80 minutes
to ironic applause from the ‘Gers fans.
Not that Rowbotham was content with that – there were
three further cautions in the closing stages, taking
the final crime count to an astonishing nine players,
all but one in the second-half, and six of the nine
wearing blue in what had been a far from physical
encounter.
It had been a poor game in difficult conditions on a
dreadful pitch – but the refereeing was even worse.
Alex McLeish afterwards reflected:
“I expected that type of game. It wasn’t a good game
of football, but the goal was one of quality. I was
pleased to win today – Motherwell battled hard.”
On the question of Referee John Rowbotham, ‘Eck’
contented himself with the observation:
“The bookings were amazing. Yellow cards kept
appearing.”
So do bad referees.
MOTHERWELL Marshall; Quinn, Craigan, Corrigan,
Hammell; Fagan (Clarkson 58), Craig, O’Donnell, Dair;
S. McDonald, Burns
UNUSED SUBS Kinniburgh, Corr, K. McDonald, Wright
RANGERS Klos; Hutton (Ross 45), Moore, F. De Boer,
Ball; Namouchi (Walker 72), Hughes, Rae, Vanoli; Mols,
Thompson
UNUSED SUBS McGregor, Adam, McCormack
REFEREE John Rowbotham