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Football: Four-goal Mols leads Rangers rout

Rangers 4 Motherwell 1

Calum Philip
Sunday 15 August 1999 23:02 BST
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RANGERS RECORDED their sixth straight victory at home and abroad yesterday to prove they will again be the team to beat north of the border.

Dutch striker Michael Mols chalked up an astonishing one -man show, scoring all four goals against a Motherwell side, who were so overwhelmed they hardly had a shot on target.

Ibrox's two giant video screens had ensured the right mood by screening that Champions' League success over Parma in glorious technicolour.

Andy Gorman, the man whose saves made him an idol on this ground during his seven years as a Rangers player, may not look like a professional athlete any longer, but his instincts are still those of an international keeper.

Goram stood up imperiously when Rod Wallace burst through onto Giovanni van Bronckhorst's fine pass in the 13th minute, and pawed away the striker's fierce shot. Minutes later he did the same to Neil McCann.

Wallace ought to have buried a header from inside the six- yard box and when Goram again saved from McCann, in the 35th minute, it looked as if the resistance was unbreakable.

Michael Mols, however, finally broke the deadlock in the 41st minute, striding onto McCann's sublime cross and crashing a volley past Goram with all the manner of a striker who cost pounds 4m.

Four minutes later, the Dutch international doubled the lead. Again McCann was the architect, nutmegging defender Michael Doesburg before delivering a cutback which Mols drove past Goram.

Mols could have claimed his hat-trick in the 64th minute when he was perfectly placed to meet Wallace's knockdown from Claudio Reyna's cross, but the Dutchman was off target this time, shooting over the bar.

However, Mols would not be denied. Five minutes later, he got the goal the Ibrox crowd had willed him to, taking a wonderful 30-yard pass from Reyna and holding off Shaun Teale before slipping his shot under Goram.

If Goram thought his agony was over, Mols had yet more punishment for the goalkeeper. In the 81st minute he scored his fourth goal. A corner by van Bronckhorst was headed straight out to Mols who took it on his chest and drilled a right- foot shot in off a post from 18 yards.

Rangers thought they had added a fifth when Goram was beaten by Wallace's shot, only for the referee to rule for an infringement.

In the final minute, Lee McCulloch pulled one back for Motherwell.

Rangers (4-4-2): A Niemi; S Porrini, C Moore, L Amoruso, T Vidmar; C Reyna, B Ferguson, G van Bronckhorst, N McCann; R Wallace, M Mols.

Motherwell (4-4-2): A Goram; M Doesburg, T Thomas, S Teale S McMillan; R Matthaei, S Valakari, G Brannan, J Spencer; L McCulloch, S Nicholas.

Referee: J McCluskey.

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