Rangers rallied to come from two goals down to salvage a 2-2 draw against Motherwell – but the fightback did little to ease the pressure on Philippe Clement as the Belgian saw his team selection backfire and lost more ground on Celtic.
The Light Blues were two goals down at the break with Clement staring into the abyss as Aussie Apostollos Stamatelopoulos fired the home side in front and Tawanda Maswanhise double the lead before the break. That left Clement facing a huge 45 minutes and substitute Hamza Igamane scored either side of Well’s own sub Tony Watt having TWO goals ruled out to level the match. But they couldn’t complete the recovery and they now trail their rivals by FOURTEEN points ahead of Thursday’s Old Firm derby.
The visitors line-up raised eyebrows with Kieran Dowell, Cyriel Dessers and Oscar Cortes all starting but they had the first real chance with Ridvan Yilmaz, in for Jefte at left back, floating in a perfect ball for Dessers who got space in the box but sent his effort straight at Aston Oxborough. But it was the Steelmen who were in front after quarter of an hour and it was a mess at the back for the Light Blues.
A long ball from Oxborough went all the way through to Robin Propper and his poor defensive header appeared to come off the arm of Stamatelopoulos but the appeals were to no avail and the Steelmen striker raced through and fired through the legs of Jack Butland.
If Rangers felt aggrieved at that decision there there was another when Nico Raskin went down in the box but VAR dismissed that after a brief check. And things went from bad to worse 10 minutes before the break as Motherwell doubled their lead. They failed to deal with a simple ball into the box and Lennon Miller cushioned a header into the path of Maswanhise and he controlled it brilliantly before firing low into the corner.
Hamza Igamane and Vaclav Cerny – who Clement said pre-match was left out on the advice of the sports science team – came on and it was the former who gave Gers a lifeline with a brilliant finish as he fired in the rebound after Danilo’s initial effort had cannoned off the upright.
The subs breathed life into the visitors and Cerny’s low shot was pushed away by Oxborough. It was a repeat of St Mirren on Boxing Day but Well sub Tony Watt tested Butland at the other end as a warning shot to the Light Blues. And from the resulting corner Watt nodded the ball into the net but it was ruled out for a foul on Butland, although the Gers keeper wasn’t convincing and was lucky to get away with it.
And there was more good fortune as Wall had the ball in the net again following shambolic defending. A free kick was floated into the box and Dan Casey’s effort came back off the crossbar and Watt was on hand to fire home the rebound but Casey was offside in the build up and it was chalked off.
Igamane then grabbed his second of the game to dramatically level the match with a brilliant finish from Ridvan Yilmaz’s pass. Gers tails were right up and Cerny’s effort was cleared off the line as Well hung on. Here’s three talking points from Fir Park
Delaying the inevitable for Clement
The second half recovery might have been a positive but it wasn’t enough and yet again – just as they did on Boxing Day – they paid the price for an insipid first half. The players weren’t at the races and it’s hard to see Philippe Clement remaining at the helm long term. If he loses to Celtic and fails to get a derby win at the seventh attempt then they will be 14 points behind their rivals in December. New CEO Patrick Stewart surely has a decision to make. It’s three wins from nine away games and they’ve won just four of their last 13 on the road.
Subs standard shows Clement made wrong call again
There was real surprise at the Rangers line up and that was vindicated by the upturn in the performance after the half-time changes as Hamza Igamane and Vaclav Cerny breathed life into the visitors after their introduction.
But why didn’t they start? Philippe Clement said he was managing Cerny’s minutes but they were far better with the pair on the park and the Belgian should be starting his best team. It was the same on Boxing Day when Nico Raskin and Danilo came on at the break and lifted the team.
Jeepers keepers
Jack Butland’s wife gave birth earlier this month when he raced away from the warm up ahead of the Dundee game and was replaced by Liam Kelly. That may have to be taken into consideration, but the finger can certainly be pointed at the Englishman in the last couple of games. His moment of madness led to St Mirren’s penalty for the opening in the Boxing Day defeat and Motherwell’s opener here went straight through him. In golf they talk about the Nappy Factor boosting players’ games, but it can have the opposite effect and Butland’s form has dipped majorly since the solid start to his Ibrox career. He had a lucky escape when Tony Watt had the ball in the net only for it to be ruled out for a foul on the keeper but it looked extremely soft. Could a spell out of the side be required?