Rangers vs Motherwell. Scottish Premiership.
Ibrox StadiumAttendance48,961.
Rangers 1-1 Motherwell: Gers drop first points at Ibrox in 18 months
Report as Motherwell end Rangers' winning streak at home; Kaiyne Woolery stunned Ibrox crowd with equaliser in 66th minute; Draw means Rangers are one point ahead at the top of the Scottish Premiership table on 13 points.
Sunday 19 September 2021 20:37, UK
Motherwell became the first team to take league points off Rangers at Ibrox since March 2020 to spoil the hosts' party with a 1-1 draw.
The Gers fans cheered the unfurling of the Premiership flag for the first time in a decade before the game and it looked like being an afternoon of celebration when striker Fashion Sakala headed in his first competitive goal for the Light Blues after 12 minutes.
However, after the home side failed to capitalise on their dominance, Well attacker Kaiyne Woolery stunned Ibrox in the 66th minute when he fired in an equaliser.
Steven Gerrard's side had to settle for the draw which moves them to the top of the table by a single point ahead of Hibernian and Hearts.
Motherwell themselves would have gone top of the table with a win but Graham Alexander's side will be more than happy with their point.
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Former Gers boss and skipper John Greig joined chairman Douglas Park and deputy chairman John Bennett for the flag ceremony with no representatives from the SPFL amid an on-going dispute with Rangers about the organisation's sponsorship deal with a car company.
The home side took the lead seconds after surviving a scare.
Well striker Tony Watt ran past Jack Simpson, picked up a long ball and rounded keeper Allan McGregor, only for the recovering Connor Goldson to make a crucial challenge.
The home side ran up the park and Well keeper Liam Kelly saved a long-range drive from Sakala but, from the resulting corner, the Zambia international headed in from under the crossbar after Joe Aribo had headed on skipper James Tavernier's delivery.
Rangers bossed the second half as they had the first and Kelly continued to rack up saves, the one on the hour mark from Tavernier's drive following a short corner was pretty spectacular before the shock equaliser.
Mark O'Hara broke into the Gers box from a Kevin van Veen pass and, although Goldson put in a tackle, the ball broke to Woolery and he got in front of Borna Barisic to sweep the ball high past McGregor from 12 yards.
It was the Fir Park men's first shot on target and left Rangers desperately trying to recover their lead.
Former Huddersfield midfielder Juninho Bacuna came on to make his debut in the 75th minute, replacing Sakala, with Alfredo Morelos and Scott Arfield also thrown on, but they failed to make a difference even with six added minutes.
What the managers said...
Rangers boss Steven Gerrard: "It's two points dropped, there's no getting away from that. I think box to box today we played some outstanding stuff. We got there on numerous occasions but our last pass, our final cross and us taking our chances just wasn't there today.
"We've only got ourselves to blame. When you don't get the second goal you lose that control and you've always got that chance to be vulnerable at the back.
"We've had these lessons before. That's the concern. We give the players the detail and the detail doesn't really change.
"We have to take ownership of it. That was a straightforward home win for me and we should be three points clear at the top. Instead we're only one and that feels frustrating right now.
"We'll put it in context at the end but right now it doesn't feel like there's anything positive from today."
Motherwell boss Graham Alexander: "It was tough and it was hostile. We had to play against many opponents today, but you saw our players, they were backing each other, supporting each other and we knew we had that support back in Motherwell.
"My players deserve immense credit for coming here on a massive day, going 1-0 down to the champions and coming back to earn something from the game. And it was a deserved point at least."
What's next?
Rangers host Livingston in the Scottish League Cup quarter-final on Wednesday evening at 7.45pm before travelling to Dens Park to take on Dundee at 3pm on Saturday, September 25.
Motherwell will welcome Ross County to Fir Park in the Scottish Premiership on September 25; kick-off 3pm.
