All's well for Rangers as high-flyers stall

Rangers 3 Motherwell 1:Rangers delivered a knockout blow to high-flying Motherwell yesterday when they claimed all three points at Ibrox to keep the pressure on rivals Celtic.

Daniel Cousin opened the scoring shortly before the break, before battling Well hauled themselves back into the game through Paul Quinn.

Chris Porter then bundled the ball into his own net, with a last-gasp strike from substitute Kris Boyd putting the icing on the cake for Rangers.

With little in the way of clear-cut chances from either side in the opening exchanges, Jim Paterson's challenge on Chris Burke saw the home side awarded a free-kick a few yards from the far-side corner flag.

Charlie Adam stepped up for the set-piece and almost surprised Graeme Smith with a curling effort from an unlikely angle, which the Well goalkeeper was relieved to see drift the wrong side of the upright.

Motherwell had a decent chance when Steven McGarry's cross from the right was pounced upon by Ross McCormack, but the former Rangers youngster was denied by the legs of Allan McGregor.

Burke then saw a reasonably tame-looking effort tipped wide by Smith and only the woodwork prevented Rangers from opening the scoring from the resulting corner. Burke's inswinging corner found Carlos Cuellar only for his header to crash off the underside of the bar before Steven Naismith stabbed wide.

The breakthrough eventually came four minutes before the break. Barry Ferguson's flick was cleared off the line by Quinn and the ball broke to Steven Whittaker. His cross from the left found Cousin and the striker delivered a low, angled drive that left Smith with no chance.

McGarry was withdrawn for Darren Smith on 64 minutes, while Naismith made way for Thomas Buffel to make his first SPL appearance in almost a year.

His comeback was, however, overshadowed by Motherwell's equaliser on 65 minutes when McCormack's corner was met by Quinn's head.

Rangers restored their advantage from an unlikely source with 21 minutes to go. Adam's corner into the box was flicked on by Cousin and Porter was in the wrong place at the wrong time to bundle the ball into his own net from a few yards.

Boyd - who had come off the bench for Cousin with 15 minutes to go - met Burke's pass in injury-time before sliding it under the body of Smith.

RANGERS: McGregor, Hutton, Cuellar, Weir, Whittaker, Burke, Ferguson, Thomson, Adam, Naismith (Buffel 64), Cousin (Boyd 75). Subs not used: Carroll, Ehiogu, Hemdani, Lennon, Furman. Booked: Hutton.

MOTHERWELL: Graeme Smith, Quinn, Craigan, Reynolds, Paterson, McGarry (Darren Smith 64), Hughes, O'Donnell, McCormack, Porter, Clarkson (Murphy 83). Subs not used: Meldrum, Corrigan, Brian McLean, Lasley, Fitzpatrick. Booked: Craigan, O'Donnell, Paterson. Goal: Quinn 65.

Referee: S Conroy (Scotland).