Attendance 10,824
Rangers threw away two priceless points in a 1-1 draw with Motherwell at Fir Park this afternoon to leave them trailing leaders Celtic by three points in the title race.
It was a game that the Champions should have won with ease with Michael Mols the main culprit having missed three clear-cut chances, yet might well in the final analysis just as easily have lost.
Fir Park was the venue for Rangers¹ first domestic defeat of last season. Indeed Alex McLeish has never won at Motherwell as Ibrox boss.
With Sir Alex Ferguson an interested onlooker, Rangers made one change from two weeks ago with Fernando Ricksen replacing Nuno Capucho.
The visitors went all out for an early goal with both Michael Mols and Shota Arveladze causing problems for the Well defence with their movement and off-the-ball running, yet the closest to an opener came at the other end when Steven Craig took possession of a David Clarkson pass and shrugged off the attentions of Craig Moore only to shoot wide of the target in ten minutes.
Four minutes later however it was Rangers who struck when Arveladze beat the offside trap to reach a Zurab Khizanishvili pass and cleverly chip the ball over the advancing Gordon Marshall.
Referee Dougie McDonald the subject of so much criticism in recent months showed a modicum of common sense in nineteen minutes when he broke up a melee involving David Clarkson, Henning Berg and Fernando Ricksen. A quiet word with each player sufficed when many another official might have flashed cards.
Rangers were well in command, yet five minutes later sheer carelessness in defence cost them the lead when a Craig Moore error allowed Keith Lasley to direct a cross in the danger area where Berg¹s slip enabled Stephen Pearson to take the ball wide of Stefan Klos, and from the narrowest of angles find the roof of the net with a fierce shot.
The Fir Park men took great heart from that breakthrough, and indeed might have snatched the lead in 28 minutes when Stephen Craigan had a free header from a Derek Adams corner only to direct his effort the wrong side of the upright.
Rangers should have regained the lead seven minutes later when a long throw from Michael Ball found Peter Lovenkrands whose square pass to Mols was simply begging to be turned over the line. The Dutchman took so long however that even though he put the ball wide of Marshall Stephen Craigan was able to clear the ball off the line.
The Light Blues went all out to regain the lead before the interval with Zurab Khizanishvili playing in midfield seeing his low effort from twenty yards from an Arteta corner deflected inches wide in 38 minutes.
Sixty seconds later Mols again had a clear scoring opportunity when Arteta¹s deflected cross found him just six yards out only to direct his header over the bar.
The half ended with Arteta¹s 22-yard free-kick beaten out by former Ibrox goalkeeper Gordon Marshall and Rangers¹ frustration growing by the minute.
The visitors restarted on the offensive Arteta¹s low driven cross in the opening seconds being just inches away from the inrushing Mols and Lovenkrands, then the Spanish youngster saw his angled drive from a Mols pass strike the face of the crossbar in 48 minutes.
Motherwell were far from out of it however Steven Craig firing wide six minutes later from a Lasley cutback, but the bulk of the pressure was coming at the other end with Craigan again denying Mols in 57 minutes, blocking his shot from a Ricksen cutback on the line.
The home side were hitting Rangers on the break and Lasley should have put them into the lead just before the hour when he turned the ball wide of an open goal from Steven Craig's cross.
Emerson anonymous for most of the game at last made his mark with a 25-yard drive from an Arteta knock-down that missed the goal by inches, but two minutes later over-elaboration on the Brazilian¹s part left the Ibrox defence exposed as Clarkson broke from the halfway line only to be crowded out on the eighteen-yard line.
Klos was at this stage the busier of the two goalkeepers beating out a Lasley drive from Craig¹s cross in 63 minutes.
Manager Alex McLeish rang the changes in an effort to turn the game around, with Paulo Vanoli, Egil Ostenstad and Nuno Capucho replacing Emerson, Lovenkrands and Ricksen, but to no avail.
The final whistle meant a costly draw for Rangers and hardly leaves them in the best frame of mind for Wednesday.
McLeish was resigned in his post-match comments:
"I can't guarantee victory. We started well but allowed Motherwell back into the game. We had our chances, but so did Motherwell. The final ball let us down. It will be a different game on Wednesday we know what we're facing."
Ibrox legend and Well boss Terry Butcher was enthusiastic in his summing-up:
"It was a hell of a game, real end-to-end stuff. We had a right go at Rangers. Motherwell¹s a good place to be at the moment. It was a fabulous game."
Sir Alex kept his thoughts to himself, but can hardly be worried at the prospect of Ibrox on Wednesday. Perhaps he will be more concerned to make sure Rangers turn up.
MOTHERWELL Marshall; Corrigan, Craigan, Partridge, Hammell; Lasley, Adams, Leitch, Pearson; Craig (Dair 78), Clarkson
UNUSED SUBS Corr, Quinn, Fagan, Wright
RANGERS Klos; Ricksen (Capucho 78), Moore, Berg, Ball; Emerson (Vanoli 64), Khizanishvili, Arteta, Lovenkrands (Ostenstad 68); Arveladze, Mols
UNUSED SUBS McGregor, Hughes
REFEREE Dougie McDonald