The night was however marred by a shocking assault on Sasa Papac by Motherwell's Chris Porter that was totally ignored by the referee. Porter clearly and viciously elbowed Papac in the face. The Ranger was stretchered off, but his assailant got off scot-free.
Manager Walter Smith made two changes from Kilmarnock with Barry Ferguson and Kyle Lafferty replacing the injured Kevin Thomson and Nacho Novo.
Rangers went in search of the opening goal right from the opening minutes with Lafferty's second-minute snap-shot from twenty yards being held by home goalkeeper Graeme Smith, one of three former Ibrox men in the Fir Park line-up (Stephen Hughes and Bob Malcolm being the others).
Eight minutes later Boyd tested Smith with another twenty-yard effort from a Ferguson pass - but once again the 'keeper proved equal to the task.
It was not all one-way traffic however - Keith Lasley bursting forward on a Chris Porter pass in twelve minutes only to see Allan McGregor hold his drive at the second attempt.
The visitors were very much on top however - Boyd heading a Steve Davis cross over in 28 minutes.
Eight minutes later Ferguson should have broken the deadlock when, having released Kenny Miller down the left, his shot from the striker's cutback was kept out by Smith's legs, then his effort from the rebound was blocked by Mark Reynolds.
Miller squandered another excellent opportunity in 39 minutes when he went through on a Boyd head-flick following a long pass from Madjid Bougherra only to see his effort blocked by Smith - then four minutes later Miller again volleyed straight at the goalkeeper following a Davis - Lafferty move.
The first-half ended goalless, and it was 'Well who were first to threaten on the restart when Steve Hammell's 25-yard free-kick was held by Allan McGregor in 51 minutes.
Sixty seconds later Pedro Mendes released Davis down the right with a superb pass, the Ulsterman's low cross being inches away from the inrushing Boyd.
McGregor produced a superb save in 54 minutes when he touched over Porter's shot on the turn from a Paul Quinn pass - but the main action was at the other end.
Lafferty tested Smith on the hour with a twenty-yard drive that the 'keeper held, then two minutes later when Mendes broke forward his 25-yard shot again found Smith equal to the task.
Boyd raced through to net in 68 minutes, but was denied by an offside flag from linesman Tom Murphy. It will surprise no-one that in fact the Ranger was ONSIDE.
Novo replaced Lafferty in 75 minutes as time began to run out on Rangers - indeed it almost got a whole lot worse three minutes later when a Hughes chip was touched over by McGregor.
Two minutes later Steve Conroy must have been the only one inside Fir Park not to see Porter's sickening assault on Papac from a 'Well corner. That no red card was produced said it all about this referee who once upon a time had a picture of the Lisbon Lions adorning the walls of his surgery. To add insult to injury, he added a meagre two minutes of injury time despite the time lost during this incident - there should surely have been at least five.
The final whistle sounded on another disappointing result for Rangers.
Afterwards a downcast Walter Smith reflected:
"We created enough chances to win the game but didn't manage to take any which is, of course, very disappointing. We are also annoyed with the decision against Kris Boyd in the second-half. He got through and scored but was ruled offside when clearly he wasn't. Apart from that we had to work very hard tonight. The first half hour was pretty even and we came into it after that and created three or four really good opportunities to score before half-time. We didn't take them and I felt at that stage if we had got in front we could have stepped up from there but it wasn't to be."
MOTHERWELL G. Smith; Lasley, Quinn, Reynolds, Hammell; McGarry, Malcolm, Hughes, Fitzpatrick; Sutton, Porter
UNUSED SUBS Nielsen, D. Smith, Murphy, O'Brien, Meechan, McHugh, Page
RANGERS McGregor; Broadfoot, Weir, Bougherra, Papac (Whittaker 80); Davis, Mendes, Ferguson, Lafferty (Novo 75) ; Boyd, Miller
UNUSED SUBS Alexander, Edu, McCulloch, Loy, Shinnie
REFEREE Steve Conroy