Too Little Too Late as Mothewell Lose to Rangers (again)

Quinn started at left back and Corrigan moved to midfield to fill the place vacated by the injured O’Donnell. Clarkson partnered McDonald up front as Hamilton served his suspension from the comfort of the stand. Britton and Kerr were the new faces on the substitute’s bench.

A moment of fame

It was an all too familiar start. Rangers pressed from the off and were one up after four minutes when Vignal smashed a shot home from the edge of the box. We found it difficult to hold the ball and gave away possession easily. McDonald had a couple of weak shots on target but we failed to look convincing.

Gerreee's debut

On the half hour we fell two behind. Quinn and Vignal focussed on the arrival of a cross and Marshall elected to go for it too. The keeper missed the ball and Vignal’s header floated into the empty net. Leitch came close with a thirty yard rocket which forced a good save but we were relieved to find the sanctuary of the dressing room without further loss.

Butcher’s half time talk seemed to have had some effect as we looked bright immediately after the restart. However the bubble burst after five minutes as Prso headed home from close in. In response, Foran replaced Paterson.

Rangers were in complete control at this stage and no one could have forecast what would happen in the last twenty minutes. Bob Malcolm gave us a penalty when he handled inside the box despite being under little pressure. McBride lashed the spot lick to the keeper’s left and we got a glimmer of hope. Then Ferguson managed to get himself dismissed when he raised his hands to Foran. Violent conduct normally elicits an immediate red but a second yellow was shown.

Clarkson and Foran were booked at the same time. Britton replaced Clarkson and we went for broke.

Now Rangers were down to ten men and we began to push home the advantage. Corrigan had a go from twenty odd yards and, with the help of a friendly deflection, it found the top left corner. Amazingly we were only a goal behind and there were still seven minutes remaining. Despite some heroic efforts to salvage a point the opposition held on.

In his post match interview, Butcher lamented the fact that we failed to show up for the first three quarters of the match. He agreed that we had a good go at the end but recognised that it came too late. We gave them too much respect at the beginning.

The dismissal of Ferguson gave us the chance to sneak a point which we hardly deserved. We were outplayed for most of the match and the fixtures between the teams this season highlight the huge gulf between us. We have lost 0-2, 1-4, 1-5 and 2-3 so far this season (that’s 4-14 in aggregate). If we do make the top six then we’ll probably lose to them for the fifth time. Oh dear.

Still, the fact remains that a win against Aberdeen or Inverness in our forthcoming fixtures would make our next game at Fir Park, against Kilmarnock, an academic exercise. Let’s hope that is the case and we avoid a nail-biter in a fortnight.