Rangers moved past Motherwell into third place in the Scottish Premiership as Thero Asgaard scored the only goal in a frenetic match at Ibrox.
Gers keeper Jack Butland and his counterpart Callum Ward both made important saves before and after the Norwegian broke the deadlock with a 67th-minute tap-in to end the Steelmen’s unbeaten run in the league at 11 games.
League leaders Hearts lost 3-2 to Hibernian earlier in the day, while second-placed Celtic won 4-2 at Livingston, leaving Rangers nine points behind the Jambos, six points behind their Old Firm rivals and two points behind Motherwell, who had a chance to get something from Govan, with a game in hand.
Danny Rolle’s side have lost just two domestic games this season (both to Hearts), but last week’s 2-1 defeat at Tynecastle dampened title hopes among the Light Blues and the team’s start was poor.
The visitors moved with purpose and pace and in the 12th minute Butland’s legs blocked Lucas Fedinger’s diagonal drive from Tom Sparrow, but the Gers keeper again saved from Callum Hendry, played in by Ibrahim Said.
Ibrox growled in annoyance.
Motherwell’s Callum Ward makes a save to deny Rangers’ Jadey Gassama
Keeper Ward had it easy until the 20th minute, when midfielder Conor Barron drove in from the edge of the box and then Jaydee Gassama pulled in a double save for the rebound.
And as the game gave Rangers momentum, Asgaard showed nimble footing inside the Motherwell box before firing wide.
Just before the break, Butland had to move smartly again to deny Elijah just after Hendry’s deft backheel left him free inside the Gers penalty area, and at the other end Ward beat Gassama’s close-range shot before saving a header from Gers defender Emmanuel Fernandes.
Nicholas Raskin’s goal was ruled out for offside
Rohr’s half-time encouragement appeared to be paying off when Ibrox midfielder Nico Raskin slotted the ball into the Motherwell goal from Gassama’s cut-back just two minutes into the second half, but the goal was disallowed as Rangers striker Youssef Cermiti interfered with Ward for offside.
Mikey Moore moved to the left in place of Mohamed Diomande in the 55th minute, with Gassama moving to the right.
With an hour left, Ward fended off Chelmity’s backheel, but Moore was unable to force the ball into the net.
Moments later Ward saved Chelmiti’s header, and at the other end Butland flew to his right and brilliantly parried a powerful drive from Hendry.
Thero Asgord scores the only goal at Ibrox
However, after Gassama had created a yard of space, Asgaard slipped the ball in from a few yards out to score Rangers’ second goal, when Ward could only parry a curling shot from inside the Motherwell box.
There was more groaning when Celmiti was unable to control Gassama’s pass and break over the goal against Ward. Ward was added to the save list in the 84th minute when he tipped Jayden Meghoma’s drive over the bar for a corner, which was defended. Both teams attacked each other until the end, and several more chances were created and missed.
Roll departs for a “long long journey”
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Rangers head coach Danny Rolle reflected on the 1-0 win over Motherwell at Ibrox, the January transfers and his team’s fight for the title.
Rangers head coach Danny Rolle told Sky Sports News:
“I’m happy to get the three points.
“I think we saw a good Motherwell team who were very dangerous, especially early on in the first 15 minutes. Then we changed some details and that had a little bit more of an effect on the game.”
“After those 20 minutes, we were fully involved, we won the ball a lot, we had some good moments, but I think in the last 10 minutes we missed too many chances to finish the game.”
“When that happens, it’s tough in this league because you never know what’s going to happen.
“We were a bit careless with long balls, second balls and in the box. It’s something we have to improve on, but I’m very happy with the last three games. We got six points against a good opponent. I’d also like to pay a lot of respect to Motherwell’s performance today.”
“It’s just a matter of the next game, the next few points, but right now it’s a long, long, long journey.
“This league is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. This is where we have to go, and we have to take it one kilometer at a time if necessary. If we can achieve this, we are moving in a good direction, but we have a long way to go.”
Askou believes a “certain penalty” has been denied.
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Motherwell manager Jens Barthel-Askou has questioned why “certain penalties” were not awarded in the defeat to Rangers.
Motherwell boss Jens Berthel Askou told Sky Sports News:
“Overall, it was a great football game.
“The two teams tried to play an open game on each other’s terms. I think we got off to a very good start. We completely dominated the game for the first 15 to 20 minutes.”
“We created two big chances in the first half and obviously it’s disappointing that we couldn’t convert one of them.
“We knew if we played the opener against Rangers we would have a chance against you, but there were some really big moments for us and we could have grabbed them and turned the game into our hands and advantage.
“We didn’t do that today, and then there was a big call at the end that gave us a definite penalty that we weren’t given for some reason. That could have given us at least a point and I think it was well deserved.”
“I don’t know why, but it’s probably hard to explain. Why wasn’t there an explanation?”
