Motherwell vs Rangers. Scottish Premiership.
Fir ParkAttendance8,728.
Motherwell 2
- A Stamatelopoulos (16th minute)
- T Maswanhise (35th minute)
Rangers 2
- H Igamane (50th minute, 68th minute)
Motherwell 2-2 Rangers: Hamza Igamane double rescues point for under-pressure Philippe Clement
Report and highlights as Rangers draw 2-2 at Motherwell; the hosts led at half-time through Apostolos Stamatelopoulos and Tawanda Maswanhise; Hamza Igamane's second-half double helped Rangers come back to snatch a 2-2 draw; Philippe Clement's side now sit 14 points behind leaders Celtic
Sunday 29 December 2024 20:48, UK
Hamza Igamane's second-half double helped Rangers come back to snatch a 2-2 draw at Motherwell, although Philippe Clement's side now sit 14 points behind leaders Celtic ahead of their Old Firm meeting.
The home team had appeared on course for a first league win against Rangers at Fir Park since Boxing Day 2002 after first-half goals from Apostolos Stamatelopoulos and an eye-catching effort from the impressive Tawanda Maswanhise.
However, the visitors responded in the second period after Clement rung the changes at half-time, with substitute Igamane scoring twice to set up a grandstand finish.
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But Motherwell substitute Tony Watt saw two strikes ruled out, while manager Stuart Kettlewell was also sent off after picking up two cautions in quick succession as a breathless encounter ended all square.
With Celtic brushing past St Johnstone, Rangers now face the daunting prospect of hosting the runaway leaders on January 2 in a game you can see live on Sky Sports.
Live SPFL
Boyd: First half was an absolute shambles
Kris Boyd on Sky Sports:
"It is not good enough. For a Rangers team to come here and perform like they did in the first half... it is not the first time
that has happened, it happened at Dundee United a few weeks back.
"When you look at Rangers right now, there are a lot of issues on the field, the manager keeps chopping and changing his team, he is trying to find a team to get him results, but for whatever reason, it has not happened.
"He got a reaction from the players in the second half from the ones who have been playing regular football, they upped the tempo, but the first half was an absolute shambles again."
McFadden: Extremely fortunate for Butland - he punches it into his own net
James McFadden on Sky Sports:
"I do not agree with the decision [to disallow Watt's second-half effort] - I know Watt is in the area challenging Butland, but Butland pushes him [Watt] out and Watt is entitled to challenge for the ball.
"I do not think he does an awful lot to Butland to make him punch it into the back of the net. It is extremely fortunate for Butland as he makes a mess of it and punches it into the back of his own net. I think it is a goal..."
What the managers said...
Motherwell boss Stuart Kettlewell:
"Again I'm just left bemused by the on-field decision. For me, it's complete over-protection of a goalkeeper.
"My frustration's purely pent up from this is now going into the realms of five, six, seven weeks with key decisions that I believe are going against us.
"Some of them have been confirmed as wrong. It's kind of a pat on the head, 'we've got that one wrong, we'll move on to the next one'.
"Lennon Miller goes into a tackle in the middle of the park which results in an injury, believe it or not.
"But to my eye, it's what I would call a hook tackle. You get side-on to the player, you go to ground, which you're allowed to do, come out with the ball, which he does, doesn't come through the player.
"There's a red card check within that tackle. Referee instantly books him.
"At this point, I started to become incredibly frustrated, because there's Rangers midfielders that will be away with four or five, I think even touching six fouls in the middle of the park."
Rangers boss Philippe Clement told Sky Sports:
"You can say that in hindsight [Rangers should have started with Cerny and Igamane] and if they were injured in the second half then you would say I am a stupid manager who doesn't listen to his staff when players are on the edge.
"We know what they've been doing until now, they were fresh and that's why they could make the difference in the second half. It's worse if we were to lose them for two months because you see how important they are for the team.
"I've already taken quite some risk in the last week. But there has to be an end to taking risk because otherwise you become really foolish."
Boyd questions Clement's selection
Kris Boyd on Sky Sports:
"I've got an issue with the whole sports science thing. They run too many football clubs. It's got a lot better in terms of the facilities you can use to recover, but when I hear 'he comes on fresh' with Cerny and Igamane - it's 45 minutes [of rest]. Forty-five minutes is doing absolutely nothing for you. He came on because he needed a result.
"The sports scientists won't be sacked, the manager will be sacked. And the fans will be asking questions of the manager as to why he's relying on them. The fans will be looking to this new leadership team at Rangers for decisions now because it's not good enough.
"Players want to play football. This is an excuse that's used time and time again to drop players. As a manager you will lose your job off the back of this. The sports scientists don't care. If a new manager comes in, they will change whatever their thoughts on sports science is to suit him. They're only interested in themselves.
"So if Clement is going to lose his job off the back of the sports science which is running Rangers Football Club at this moment in time, then that's his issue."
