Rangers came from behind to defeat Motherwell 2-1 at Fir Park tonight in an SPL Under-21 fixture.
A Rangers team that was a mixture of youth and experience were under pressure in the opening minutes – but an unorthodox clearance by goalkeeper Graeme Smith when he headed clear saved the day.
The game was played in difficult conditions of driving rain, but the Ibrox men quickly adapted and Chris Burke should have done better in ten minutes when he worked an opening for himself on the right, only for his cutback to fall behind the unmarked Steven McLean right in front of goal.
Rangers missed a golden opportunity to take the lead five minutes later when Billy Dodds screwed his shot wide of the target from a Stephen Hughes pass.
Included in the Motherwell ranks was ex-Ranger Iain Russell (a sub at Ibrox on Saturday) – and the youngster showed some neat touches on the right to create an opening that David Clarke blasted wide.
The visitors had the bulk of the pressure for much of the first-half, but although Stephen Dobbie twice came close with curling efforts from outside the box, there was a distinct lack of penetration about Rangers and the first-half ended goalless.
A Billy Dodds left-foot chip in 47 minutes struck the post.
‘Well took the lead on the hour when Russell was left unmarked to slot home a Clarke cross with the Ibrox defence badly at fault.
Rangers were behind for precisely ten minutes – Dodds converting a McHale cross for the equaliser. Twice within the next four minutes the ‘Gers youngsters might have taken the lead – firstly when McHale shot inches wide, then when McLean’s run was blocked by Dubourdeau.
McHale again came close in 80 minutes when his shot from a Dodds cross was cleared off the line, but within sixty seconds the Light Blues had the lead when Andy Dowie headed home a McHale corner.
It was end-to-end stuff now – Russell was inches away from converting a Khaled Kemas cross with the net unguarded. Rangers however held out for a deserved win.
MOTHERWELL Dubourdeau; Dempsie, Crawley (Clarkson 89); Black, Sengewald, Mathie; Russell, Macdonald, Jack, Kemas, Clarke (Scott 80)
UNUSED SUBS Ewings, Quinn, Barkey
RANGERS Smith; Hutton, Dowie; Malcolm, Hughes (Fortunato 69), W. Gibson; McHale, Dodds, Dobbie, McLean, Burke
UNUSED SUBS Reidford, Dale, Coyle, McLean