{"id":421371,"date":"2026-02-12T07:32:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T07:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/421371\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T07:32:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T07:32:14","slug":"ragged-rangers-come-up-short-against-magic-motherwell-as-welsh-makes-three-sets-of-fans-celebrate-5-talking-points","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/421371\/","title":{"rendered":"Ragged Rangers come up short against magic Motherwell as Welsh makes three sets of fans celebrate \u2013 5 talking points"},"content":{"rendered":"

The visitors were leading through Nico Raskin but conceded late on to the 10 men of Motherwell<\/p>\n

22:15, 11 Feb 2026Updated 22:59, 11 Feb 2026<\/p>\n

Motherwell 1 Rangers 1: Best of the Scottish Premiership action from Fir Park<\/p>\n

Danny Rohl urged his team to show bravery over fear at Fir Park.<\/p>\n

But the Rangers<\/a> gaffer must surely be worried now that his team have suffered a huge title blow.<\/p>\n

While rivals Hearts and Celtic were digging out last minute winners to keep up the pressure, it was Gers who wilted under the Lanarkshire spotlight as Jens Berthel Askou\u2019s Premiership<\/a> darlings roared back a minute from time.<\/p>\n

Ahead early through Nico Raskin\u2019s early opener and with a man advantage after Lukasd Fadinger\u2019s red card, all the Ibrox side had to do was stand firm.<\/p>\n

But it was Rohl\u2019s side who failed to hold the nerve as on-loan Celt Stephen Welsh – back in JBA\u2019s line-up after his brief Parkhead return – fired home a crushing equaliser with just moments to go.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Motherwell’s Stephen Welsh celebrates <\/p>\n

The result now leaves Gers five points adrift<\/a> of Hearts ahead of Sunday\u2019s encounter with the leaders at Ibrox – a match that is now looking like a must win if Rangers are to retain hopes of clinching the crown.<\/p>\n

It was a frantic start as both teams looked to impose their style of play.<\/p>\n

Well were first to create an opening but Emmanuel Longelo failed to take advantage as he first straight at Jack Butland<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But Gers made no mistake with their first look at goal. Diomande gave Slattery the slip in midfield before charing 40 yards up field to roll in his partner Raskin, who caressed home the opener with a delicate finish.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Rangers’ Nicolas Raskin celebrates scoring to make it 1-0<\/p>\n

The goal smashed Motherwell\u2019s 827-minutes Fir Park shut-out record – but Berthel Askou\u2019s team responded in their now trademark manner by bossing the ball.<\/p>\n

They had two thirds of the possession at spells and were creating plenty with it.<\/p>\n

Slattery had a free-kick parried behind by Butland, while Twanda Maswanhise shook the upright from a tight angle when John Souttar failed to read Stephen O\u2019Donnell\u2019s ball over the top.<\/p>\n

It took a stunning Raskin clearance from under his own bar to prevent John McGinn and Stephen Welsh bundling home from O\u2019Donnell\u2019s knock down.<\/p>\n

But Rangers should have gone in at the break two up. Youssef Chermiti<\/a> had two goes at beating Calum Ward as he pounces on a Welsh mistake but buried neither.<\/p>\n

The second half was a tighter affair but Gers needed Butland to be alert again when Just broke through.<\/p>\n

Referee Steven McLean had a tough night keeping control of a feisty encounter – and he needed a helping hand from VAR as he was persuaded to upgrade Fadinger\u2019s yellow card to red for a late lunge on Mikey Moore.<\/p>\n

The home fans feared the worst at that point – but they ended up being the ones celebrating at the death as Welsh pounced on Eythor Bjorgolfsson\u2019s knockdown to snatch a deserved point for Well.<\/p>\n

Here’s five talking points from Fir Park<\/p>\n

Gers can\u2019t grit and bear it<\/p>\n

Derek McInnes praised his Hearts battlers for replicating Rangers and Celtic by winning against Hibs when not at their best – but it\u2019s been years since you could count on the Ibrox men to do just that.<\/p>\n

And yet again they failed to hold on when it mattered.<\/p>\n

Under Rohl, they\u2019ve found a way to grind out wins.<\/p>\n

But blue grit isn\u2019t enough when you lack quality.<\/p>\n

Rangers had their chances to cement their lead but failed to take them. We\u2019ll have to wait to see how costly this spill proves to be but Rangers simply can\u2019t afford another one when McInnes brings his team west this weekend.<\/p>\n

Rohl has questions to answer<\/p>\n

The Ibrox gaffer left fans stunned when he choose to leave out three of his four January recruits.<\/p>\n

Andreas Skov Olsen, Tuur Rommens and Ryan Naderi all started on the bench despite impressing in the eight-goal demolition job on Queen\u2019s Park.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Rangers head coach Danny Rohl<\/p>\n

Whether Rohl was keeping them for the Jambos on Sunday or if he felt they weren\u2019t ready for a match of this magnitude, it backfired.<\/p>\n

Rangers lacked a cutting edge in the final third and were made to pay as Well hit back a minute from time.<\/p>\n

Chermiti fluffs his chance<\/p>\n

The big Rangers frontman must have known he was under pressure to perform after Gers splashed out almost \u00a35million to land Naderi on deadline day.<\/p>\n

But when his big moment came just before half-time, he choked after twice failing to beat Calum Ward.<\/p>\n

With Naderi off and running after his Spiders double, you have to wonder how many more opportunities the former Everton striker will get.<\/p>\n

Well, Well, Well<\/p>\n

The Steelemen came into the game on a run of nine consecutive clean sheets at home, a sequence that began following their last Fir Park defeat against Falkirk on October 18 – four days before Rohl was even appointed to the Ibrox gig.<\/p>\n

Their only loss away from home in that time came against Gers in Govan just after Christmas.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Motherwell’s Stephen Welsh celebrates <\/p>\n

It looked like they might be on for a repeat when Raskin fired Gers ahead but JBA\u2019s team reused to shy away from their principles.<\/p>\n

They passed, they moved, they swarmed Gers\u2019 defence and created a number of openings.<\/p>\n

This might not be enough to propel the Steelmen into the title fight, but they could well turn out to be the kingmakers after the split.<\/p>\n

Watt about that?<\/p>\n

Bethel Askou looked a worried man last man when he confirmed star man Elliott Watt was looking at several weeks out with a hamstring issue.<\/p>\n

But Danish gaffer needn\u2019t have fretted after watching his side pick up three wins and draw while their star midfield man was absent.<\/p>\n

He was back last night for his first start in a month but in truth, he looked like he was struggling to get up to the breakneck pace of play.<\/p>\n

While the likes of Slattery and Elijah Just were a constant menace for Motherwell<\/a>, the former Scotland Under-21 international wasn\u2019t his usual influence.<\/p>\n

It was no surprise to see him replaced at the break by Oscar Priestman but the run out will do him good in his search for full fitness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The visitors were leading through Nico Raskin but conceded late on to the 10 men of Motherwell 22:15,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":421372,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[86566,218,28962,74426,80483,22802,28963,2714,8058,101,132436,140344,56,54,55,53809],"class_list":["post-421371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-danny-rohl","tag-football","tag-james-tavernier","tag-jayden-meghoma","tag-jens-berthel-askou","tag-motherwell-fc","tag-nicolas-raskin","tag-rangers-fc","tag-scottish-premiership","tag-sports","tag-stephen-welsh","tag-tochi-chukwuani","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-youssef-chermiti"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=421371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421371\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/421372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}