Attendance 9,355
Rangers lost their 100% League record this afternoon, being held to a goalless draw by Motherwell at Fir Park - but this was a game the Champions could easily have lost, with Allan McGregor saving an 87th minute penalty from Jim O'Brien.
This has not been the happiest of venues for the Ibrox men in recent years - and so it proved again today with Madjid Bougherra being ordered off for dissent following the spot-kick incident. Incredibly the last four meetings between the two clubs at this ground have been drawn - not since Paul Le Guen's final game in charge have Rangers tasted victory here.
On a gloriously sunny day in Lanarkshire Manager Walter Smith made one change from the side that defeated Hamilton Accies two weeks ago with new signing Jerome Rothen replacing Steven Naismith.
The visitors were first to threaten when Kenny Miller's thirteenth minute cross found Kris Boyd at the far post, his header across the face of goal seeing 'keeper John Ruddy fist the ball away under pressure from Sasa Papac.
There was a lack of goalmouth action throughout the opening half-hour, although Madjid Bougherra did see his twenty-yard shot held by Ruddy in 28 minutes.
Ten minutes later 'Well missed a glorious opportunity to open the scoring when John Sutton somehow - in front of an open goal - allowed Yassin Moutaouakil's cross to bounce off him and behind.
Rangers were soon back at the other end with Miller shooting over from a Boyd knockdown in 41 minutes, then sixty seconds later from Rothen's free-kick Bougherra's header was blocked at point-blank range by Ruddy.
The home side restarted on the offensive with Steven Hammell's angled drive from an O'Brien pass being beaten away by McGregor in 47 minutes.
Rangers were struggling to make an impression, and Walter Smith recognised this on the hour with a double substitution, Nacho Novo and Naismith replacing Miller and Rothen.
Three minutes later the change almost paid dividends when both Naismith and Steve Davis had shots blocked.
Novo almost broke the deadlock in 72 minutes when his twenty-yard shot from a Naismith pass was beaten away by Ruddy.
This game could have gone either way - three minutes later Giles Coke's header from a Moutaouakil cross flashed over the bar.
Steven Whittaker was next to test Ruddy in eighty minutes with a 22-yard left-foot shot from a Bougherra pass that the goalkeeper held.
There was a moment of controversy four minutes later when 'Well broke as two Ibrox men (Boyd and Bougherra) lay grounded in the home penalty area following a clash of heads. With play raging on Coke saw his effort blocked before Tom Hateley (son of Mark) fired over.
That however was nothing to the explosion in 85 minutes when Referee Dougie McDonald awarded the home side a penalty after Bougherra had tackled substitute Lukas Jutkiewicz. Such was the Moroccan's anger at such a soft award that he received two yellow cards and consequent red for dissent before McGregor rendered such protestations pointless with a superb save from O'Brien's spot-kick.
Rangers were hanging on for the draw - Jutkiewicz shooting wide two minutes later from a good position - but the game ended goalless.
Afterwards Walter Smith summarised:
"It was disappointing to drop two points, but we didn't deserve to win. We didn't apply enough pressure - but Motherwell played very well.'
Significantly Motherwell Assistant Manager Peter Ward admitted:
"I'm not sure it was a penalty..."
Regardless of the rights or wrongs of the decision however the plain truth is that Rangers will have to improve 'out of sight' if they are to secure a result in Stuttgart on Wednesday.
MOTHERWELL Ruddy; Moutaouakil, Reynolds, Saunders, Hammell; Murphy (Jennings 45), Coke, Hateley, Forbes (Lasley 73), O'Brien; Sutton (Jutkiewicz 79)
UNUSED SUBS Kosiorowski, Craigan, Page, McHugh
RANGERS McGregor; Whittaker, Weir, Bougherra, Papac; Davis, Mendes, McCulloch, Rothen (Naismith 60); Boyd, Miller (Novo 60)
UNUSED SUBS Alexander, Thomson, Fleck, Little, Wilson
REFEREE Dougie McDonald