Rangers respond to McLeish mood

Rangers 3 Motherwell

Alex McLeish refuses to narrow Rangers' horizons and, if the pursuit of Celtic in the Scottish Premier League is forlorn, then the Uefa Cup offers tangible consolation. When Feyenoord visit Ibrox in five days' time, they will find a side who have undergone a transformation under McLeish's care.

Motherwell were swatted aside yesterday to extend the new manager's unbeaten run to 15 games since he replaced Dick Advocaat. But, given the proximity of Feyenoord's visit on Thursday, it was disconcerting for Rangers to lose Ronald de Boer in the pre-match warm-up. The Dutch international had managed to avoid injury against England last Wednesday, but succumbed to a muscle strain here.

Ironically, the last time Motherwell won at Ibrox, in 1997, their manager was none other than McLeish, and in the opening stages they looked capable of soaking up the pressure. However, they were undone by a flash of genius after 13 minutes.

Russell Latapy, whose inclusion came only after De Boer's injury, has been a peripheral figure since McLeish came to Ibrox, after being kicked out by the manager when both were at Hibernian last season. Yet he grabbed everyone's attention with an audacious strike, gathering Shota Arveladze's pass on the edge of the penalty area before spinning and threading a left-foot shot into the nearest portion of goal.

Rangers' eagerness was evident and it took an alert sliding tackle from Eric Deloumeaux to deny Barry Ferguson. But Motherwell almost equalised just before the half-hour. Steven Hammell's free-kick was met by Karl Ready but the Wales defender struck the post from point-blank range and then Dirk Lehmann's follow-up was beaten away by Rangers goalkeeper, Stefan Klos.

That was soon eclipsed by Steve Woods' superb twisting save to touch Ferguson's volley over, but the Motherwell keeper was sold short by Keith Lasley four minutes before the interval, the midfielder's foolish back-pass being seized on by Tore Andre Flo, who went wide of Woods and clipped an angled shot into the empty net.

The pace of Peter Lovenkrands on the left wing had been Rangers' chief instrument of torture and it was to provide further pain for Deloumeaux just before the hour. The Motherwell defender had been booked earlier for fouling the Danish international and, when he cut Lovenkrands down again, the visitors faced an uncomfortable final 30 minutes with just 10 men.

Thankfully, they had Woods. The keeper repeatedly denied Michael Mols, who replaced Flo, with agile saves. However, he was powerless to prevent Fernando Ricksen netting a third goal six minutes from the end. Patient passing allowed Latapy to pick out Ricksen's run and the Dutch international thrashed in a right-foot shot from 25 yards. Rangers will hope Ricksen saves one of those for his compatriots on Thursday.