Conceding a late equaliser was shattering enough for Danny Rohl’s Rangers. Losing it to an on-loan Celtic player felt like an extra cruel kind of punishment.
That was just the latest twist in an extraordinary title race as 10-man Motherwell fought back to level through defender Stephen Welsh in the 89th minute.
On a night when Celtic also scored late to pick up three vital points against Livingston, the Ibrox side watched two of them slip away at the death.
Despite Nicolas Raskin firing the visitors into an early lead, a point was the very least Motherwell deserved in an absorbing contest between two of the country’s form teams.
From start to finish, Jens Berthel Askou’s men were terrific. To be blunt, they played Rangers off the park.
That should come as no surprise to anyone who has watched them this season. They did the same to Celtic last month.
Stephen Welsh can’t hide his delight after scoring his late leveller for the Fir Park side
On-loan Celtic player Stephen Welsh fires home equaliser for Motherwell against Rangers
Welsh savours the applause of Motherwell fans after the home side’s deserved late equaliser
Some have them as outsiders to be contending for the top prize come May. While that may be stretching it just a tad, there’s no doubt they’re going to have a massive say in where the trophy ends up.
As for Rangers, this was a timely reminder that, for all the progress made under Rohl – and there has been plenty of it – they are nowhere near the finished article. Too many players are still not contributing enough.
Next up is a huge clash at Ibrox on Sunday with Hearts, who would have been cheering Welsh’s leveller last night. If Rangers win that, all will seem rosy again of course, but they will need to be far better than they were here. Losing is unthinkable now.
The Jambos are hardly playing slick stuff themselves at the moment but, as they demonstrated against Hibs this week, they are capable of getting over the line. Rangers haven’t quite mastered that yet.
They led for the best part of 90 minutes here, courtesy of Raskin.
But Motherwell – reduced to 10 men late on following Lukas Fadinger’s red card for a foul on Mikey Moore – stuck to their task, and ultimately earned their share of the spoils courtesy of Welsh’s strike with the seconds ticking down.
Danny Rohl gets angry with his Rangers players as they struggle to hold on at Fir Park
Motherwell looked dead and buried after Fadinger was sent off for foul on Mikey Moore, but the Lanarkshire side refused to give up
He didn’t half do his parent club a favour as well. Safe to say he milked the celebrations at full-time.
Motherwell wasted no time getting into their stride here, and went close to an opener on five minutes.
A sweeping team move began when Callum Ward released Stephen O’Donnell on the right flank. The full-back played a one-two with Callum Slattery before getting a cross in which fell at Slattery’s feet on the 18-yard line. The midfielder got his head up and laid it off for Emmanuel Longelo, in acres of space on the left of the box, but his shot was straight at Jack Butland. The follow-up failed to hit the target.
Rangers made them pay within 60 seconds. Taking a leaf out of the hosts’ book, they built from the back before the ball made its way to Mohamed Diomande on halfway.
The 24-year-old drove unopposed towards the Well area before threading a delightful ball through to Raskin. He had ghosted in behind a static defence and his finish into Ward’s bottom-left corner was clinical.
It was the first home goal conceded by Motherwell since Scott Arfield netted for Falkirk last October. From their point of view, it was far too easy.
Askou couldn’t have asked for a better response from his players, who quickly penned Rangers in.
Nicolas Raskin had opened the scoring for Rangers after a superb move by visitors
The Belgian was delighted to give Rangers the lead on important night for Ibrox side
For all their possession, there was little cutting edge in the opening quarter, with Slattery’s long-range free-kick – beaten away by Butland – their only effort of note.
When the visitors did get hold of the ball, they were a threat. Tochi Chukwuani was given far too much room to cut inside at the end of a rapid counter. His rocket went inches wide of the post.
It took 25 minutes for dangerman Maswanhise to get a sniff. O’Donnell evaded a couple of challenges inside his own half before pinging an inch-perfect ball over the head of John Souttar and onto the striker’s chest. The Zimbabwean’s touch took him wide of goal, yet he still managed to get a shot away from the tightest of angles which cannoned off the post.
Maswanhise has earned the headlines in this outstanding Motherwell season. Rightly so. Hitting the net 21 times in all competition tends to have that effect.
Indeed, Rangers were rumoured to be interested in securing his services during last month’s transfer window, before Motherwell – to their credit – killed the conversation stone dead.
He looked sharp here. Slattery stood out, though. At times, it appeared as though he had eyes in the back of his head. Rangers simply couldn’t get near him, or his midfield partner Elijah Just, who popped up everywhere.
The visitors spurned a golden opportunity to double their advantage 10 minutes before the break. Welsh made a mess of a routine clearance, with the ball bouncing kindly for Youssef Chermiti 12 yards out. To the surprise of no one inside a packed Fir Park, the £9million-man fired straight down the throat of Ward. His confidence looks shot to bits. Surely it won’t be long before Ryan Naderi gets a run.
Rangers were far more assured in the early stages of the second period, with Raskin and Chukwuani finally getting to grips with things. There was just nothing happening in front of them.
With 25 minutes remaining, Motherwell came to life, with Said and Just exchanging passes before the latter forced a decent enough stop from Butland with a low right-footed effort.
Stephen Welsh races away to celebrate after his vital equaliser for the Steelmen
The on-loan Celtic man is a picture of delight after sealing a 1-1 draw for Motherwell
The Steelmen’s task was made significantly harder with 15 minutes to go. Moore – who had been ineffective all night – attempted to scamper down the right, but was scythed down by Fadinger.
Referee Steven McLean issued a booking on the spot, but that was upgraded to a straight red following a brief consultation with the VAR monitor. The Austrian could have no complaints about the decision.
That could have easily knocked the stuffing out of Well, but they continued to probe, and got their rewards with stoppage-time looming. A hopeful ball into the box ended up at the feet of Welsh, who blasted home from six yards.
MOTHERWELL (4-2-3-1): Ward 6; O’Donnell 7 (Sparrow 69), McGinn 7, Welsh 7, Longelo7; Fadinger 5, Watt 4 (Priestman 46); SLATTERY 8, Just 7, Said 7 (Bjorgolfsson 69); Maswanhise 6.
Booked: Said, Just.
Sent off: Fadinger.
Manager: Jens Berthel Askou 8.
RANGERS (4-2-3-1): Butland 7; Tavernier 5, Souttar 6, Djiga 6, Meghoma 5; Chukwuani 4, Raskin 6; Diomande 5 (Naderi 62), Gassama 4 (Fernandez 74), Moore 4; Chermiti 4.
Booked: Diomande, Raskin, Meghoma, Souttar.
Manager: Danny Rohl 4.
Referee: Steven McLean.
Attendance: 11,209.
