Haphazard Rangers claim unwanted hat-trick as luck runs out and Motherwell get just rewards

If it had seemed Russell Martin had somehow stumbled upon a magic formula where his side could continue to struggle yet eke out positive results, then that notion quickly came unstuck as Motherwell’s reward for a dominant second-half performance was a late equaliser plundered by Emmanuel Longelo.

It extends a trend started in the last two years by Martin’s immediate predecessors, Michael Beale and Philippe Clement, of Rangers dropping points in their opening league match of the season. One game in and already facing the prospect of playing catch-up to Celtic if the champions defeat St Mirren on Sunday.

Martin will surely hope that with time and a batch of fresh signings his team will start to play with more control and less of a frantic feel about them, most notably after the interval when the rigours of their Champions League match in Athens three days earlier undoubtedly caught up with them.

And yet, until Longelo’s late intervention, it seemed like Rangers had done enough to win. Leading by James Tavernier’s first-half header, a combination of desperate defending and wasteful Motherwell finishing looked to have delivered an unlikely Rangers clean sheet.

They could have no complaints about the concession, however, with the large travelling support voicing their displeasure at the final whistle.

There is no time for Rangers to step off the rollercoaster, however. Viktoria Plzen lie in wait on Tuesday night in the first leg of the teams’ Champions League third qualifying round tie, an evening that could be fraught should Martin’s side continue to play in such a haphazard fashion.

In contrast, this was an ideal way for new manager Jens Berthel Askou to ingratiate himself with the Motherwell support, although the Dane will be hoping his charges don’t leave it so long to hit the target in future matches.

Both of these managers – former team-mates at Norwich City – favour a high-risk, high-reward style of play that will give their supporters giddy thrills and heart palpitations in equal measure. Their collision on the opening day of the season resulted in this frenetic, at times chaotic, contest in which every attack seemed to produce something tangible at the end of it. The defending was often unconventional and, at times, seemingly optional, too. Catenaccio this was not.

Given the volume of chances created from open play in the opening exchanges – Danilo struck the top of the crossbar and Djeidi Gassama rolled an effort just wide of the far post – it was as a bit of a surprise that the opening goal after 14 minutes would arrive from a set-piece. It was Rangers who scored it, Joe Rothwell floating over a corner for Tavernier who rose unchallenged to power a header beyond Calum Ward.

It seemed that a new era at Ibrox, on and off the pitch, would see Tavernier finally move on after a decade’s worth of largely sterling service but, three months shy of his 34th birthday, the Rangers captain remains as pivotal a figure as ever.

Moments like that serve to underline his enduring value although there were also glimpses of his fallibility in the second half when he sloppily gave away possession to Callum Slattery then scythed the Motherwell midfielder down in his attempts to retrieve it. There would have been a sigh of relief from Tavernier when Elijah Just headed the subsequent free kick wide of goal.

Rangers had led a largely charmed life at the back in both legs of their Champions League tie with Panathinaikos and they enjoyed some good fortune here, too. Jack Butland didn’t look too clever as he dealt unconvincingly with a Longelo trundler, grasping for the ball like a fisherman guddling a trout. The goalkeeper, though, redeemed himself by reacting sharply to keep out Apostolos Stamatelopoulos’ rebound effort when the striker looked set for a tap-in.

Butland was at it again early in the second half, at full stretch to push away Paul McGinn’s curling effort that seemed destined for the far corner. With Stamatelopoulos again lurking, John Souttar was sufficiently switched on to stick out a boot and clear the danger.

Motherwell’s profligacy looked set to let Rangers off the hook but the pressure finally told three minutes from time. Just looked offside as he touched back Johnny Koutroumbis’ deflected shot but replays showed otherwise, ensuring Longelo’s low drilled effort counted.

It could have got worse had Butland not saved Tom Sparrow’s effort but this was painful enough already for Rangers.