Light Blues four points behind with two games in hand as the title race comes to the boil
It’s skipper Ferguson to the rescue for Rangers
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Barry Ferguson gave Rangers a lift in the Scottish Premier League title race by scoring the only goal of the game against Motherwell at Ibrox.
The captain came to the rescue with a 73rd-minute strike to hand Rangers their first SPL victory since the 1-0 win over Celtic at the same venue on March 29. The Ibrox men are now four points behind Celtic with two games in hand. Rangers headed into the match aware there was no more room for error if they wanted to keep the title race in their own hands.
Goals had been hard to come by in recent matches – 210 minutes of football against Fiorentina had ended goalless before a spot-kick triumph, while Sunday’s SPL clash at Hibs also ended 0-0.
Manager Walter Smith opted for an attacking line-up, with Jean-Claude Darcheville and Kris Boyd deployed up front, and boosted by the pace of Nacho Novo.
The first opportunity arrived with just two minutes on the clock. A neat pass from Darcheville allowed Barry Ferguson to release Boyd through on goal but the danger was cleared by the Motherwell defence before he could shoot.
David Weir also went close when he saw a long-range header touched on to the crossbar by Smith, before Novo lashed the rebound into the side-netting.
Set-pieces had proved to be Motherwell’s Achilles heel against Celtic and they almost succumbed to an opener against the other half of the Old Firm two minutes after the restart.
Steven Davis’s inswinging corner found the head of Weir but the veteran defender was again denied.
Darcheville pounced on a long clearance from Carlos Cuellar, only for Brian McLean to hoof his cross-cum-shot to safety before blasting high and wide from just inside the box.
The breakthrough eventually came when a Davis corner was nodded on by Weir to Ferguson, who was waiting on the edge of the six-yard box to gratefully lash into the top corner of the net.
Boyd thought he had wrapped up the win late on when he netted but the nearside assistant had already flagged for offside before the shot had left his boot.
Dundee United are next up in the league for Rangers, before next week’s Uefa Cup final against Zenit St Petersburg in Manchester.
RANGERS – Alexander, Broadfoot, Cuellar, Weir, Whittaker, Davis, Ferguson, Thomson, Novo, Boyd (Cousin 86), Darcheville (Adam 76).
MOTHERWELL – Graeme Smith, Brian McLean, Craigan, Reynolds, Fitzpatrick, Malcolm, Lasley (Darren Smith 75), Lappin, Hughes, McGarry (Clarkson 60), McCormack (Porter 75).
