By Craig Rae
Michael Beale made it four wins on the bounce on his return to Rangers as Motherwell were defeated 3-0 at Ibrox after a less than convincing performance.
The manager made four changes to the side that defeated Ross County 4-0 in Dingwall as Allan McGregor, Alfredo Morelos and Ryan Jack replaced Jon McLaughlin, Fashion Sakala and Glen Kamara.
Alex Lowry also made his first start of the season replacing Scott Arfield as Borna Barisic made his return from the World Cup replacing youngster Adam Devine.
Rangers started the game poorly as Motherwell looked to take advantage of the lack of playing time in the light blue defence by pounding ball after ball in behind, winning several corners.
Malik Tillman was sloppy in possession and lost the ball, bringing the man down in the process to pick up the first booking of the match.
Much was made pre-match about the return of Barisic, seeing it as harsh on the inform Adam Devine but the Croatian delivered a trademark pinpoint cross to find Alfredo Morelos who powerfully headered the ball past Liam Kelly and make it 1-0, perhaps proving a few of his critics wrong.
Rangers looked more dangerous as the half continued with Tillman in particularly impressing, he was brought down by Lamie outside the box, and Tavernier came close with the free kick after Kelly spilled the ball, but it couldn’t quite cross the line.
The lead was finally doubled in the 39th minute as Barisic delivered again, this time from a corner and Connor Goldson rose the highest to head the ball off the underside of the bar and in.
Morelos came close to his second shortly after when a lovely flick from Tillman set up the Colombian, but it was saved by Kelly.
On paper it was a comfortable lead for Rangers, but Motherwell will feel hard done by to be two goals down after a solid performance.
Rangers started the second half strongly and Morelos was to be denied again after a saved Kelly shot.
The game was wrapped up a couple of minutes later, however, as the Colombian put the ball through to Tillman who took his time and placed his shot low and hard across Kelly to seal the deal for Rangers, topping off a top performance from the USA international.
The manager said at his press conference that he would continue to make use of the five substitutes rule and he did just that after the third goal by brining on Adam Devine, Glen Kamara, James Sands and Fashion Sakala for Tavernier, Jack, Lundstram, and Lowry respectively.
Unfortunately, the fifth and final change had to be made as Alfredo Morelos limped off for Rabbi Matondo, it came at a time in which the Colombian was coming back into form and would be a huge miss for Monday’s Old Firm game if he is ruled out.
Apart from a disallowed goal for offside, Motherwell didn’t offer much more going forward for the rest of the game and seemed happy to keep the score down.
Rabbi Matondo missed another guilt edged chance a few minutes from the end, shooting straight at Kelly after being played through by Tillman to add to his glaring miss in Dingwall on Friday as it finished 3-0 to Rangers.
The results are always the most important thing at Rangers, but it will be concerning that for four matches in a row the team have failed to deliver a convincing performance.
Up next, the smaller matter of the Old Firm derby on Monday in which Rangers will look to cut the deficit at the top to 6 points.
Rangers: McGregor, Tavernier (Devine) , Goldson, Davies, Barisic, Jack (Kamara), Lundstram (Sands), Lowry (Sakala), Tillman, Kent, Morelos (Matondo)
Motherwell: Kelly, O’Donnell, McGinn, Lamie, Penney, Spittal, Cornelius, Slattery, Goss, Shields, McKinstry
Attendance: 49,605
Man of the Match: Alfredo Morelos
