Ferguson strikes early to ease Rangers' nerves and stretch gap at top

Rangers 2 Motherwell

Rangers took advantage of Celtic being occupied on Merseyside to open up a gap over their rivals at the top of the Scottish Premier League.

The lead is now six points, though it is not so much clear blue water as the muddied variety. Celtic have two games in hand to claw back the advantage that the goals of Barry Ferguson and Peter Lovenkrands created at Ibrox last night.

Though Rangers had not dropped a single point at home all season, they had every right to be wary of Motherwell. Terry Butcher's side had inflicted defeat upon them when they went to Fir Park on Boxing Day.

That anxiety was well-founded. The visitors almost went in front after six minutes, after wonderful vision from James McFadden carved apart Rangers, but Dirk Lehmann did not possess a ruthless finish and he squandered his team-mate's pass by allowing Stefan Klos to block his shot.

Klos then rushed out to deny the lively McFadden before Rangers found the breakthrough they craved in the 18th minute. Michael Mols was brought down on the edge of the Motherwell area by the defender David Partridge, allowing Ferguson to step up and bend a free-kick over the wall and beyond the reach of François Dubourdeau.

Rangers began to impose themselves on the bottom club, and Mols paid a heavy price for his pace with a succession of heavy tackles that eventually saw Tony Vaughan booked for cutting down the Dutchman.

Butcher's team came back into the game before half-time and Lehmann came close to snatching an equaliser, but they were hit again barely moments into the second half.

Kevin Muscat picked out the run of Lovenkrands and the Dane's pace exposed the holes in the defence before he coolly steered a left-foot shot past Dubourdeau.

Steven Thompson should have increased Rangers' comfort zone but the Scotland striker squandered a golden chance in the 60th minute when he failed to turn in a threatening cross from Maurice Ross.

The Rangers manager, Alex McLeish, made three substitutions and two of the new arrivals, Neil McCann and Shota Arveladze, combined well, with the latter failing to beat Dubourdeau with a diving header only because the goalkeeper got down to save well.

McFadden remained Motherwell's best hope for a goal but the teenage Scotland forward's inventiveness was not matched by his colleagues and twice Derek Adams wasted chances engineered for him.

Rangers (4-3-3): Klos; Ross, Malcolm, Moore, Muscat; Ricksen, Ferguson, De Boer (Konterman, 58); Mols (Arveladze, 60), Thompson, Lovenkrands (McCann, 58). Substitutes not used: McGregor (gk), Hughes.

Motherwell (4-4-2): Dubourdeau; Ramsey (Cowan, 29), Partridge, Vaughan, Hammell; Adams, Lasley, Corrigan, McFadden; Clarkson (Offiong, 65), Lehmann (Craig, 75). Substitutes not used: Woods (gk), Fagan.

Referee: H Dallas.