Source: Team_Talk
Boyd strikes late to thwart Well
The striker made his first start since recovering from a double hernia operation and prevented the Scottish champions from slumping to only their second league defeat of the season.[LNB]Tom Hateley - son of former Rangers hero Mark - grabbed the opener for Motherwell, who were also controversially denied a second goal, as Craig Brown remained undefeated in the SPL.[LNB]Kenny Miller started alongside Boyd upfront as Rangers manager Walter Smith made four changes from the weekend.[LNB]The strike duo came off the bench in the goalless Scottish Cup tie at St Mirren and made the starting line-up on Wednesday night, with Steven Naismith moved back to midfield and Kyle Lafferty dropped to the bench.[LNB]David Weir returned from suspension to partner Madjid Bougherra in the heart of defence, while Sasa Papac was back after a knee injury kept him out of the last couple of games.[LNB]Motherwell made one change from the side who defeated Hamilton; the suspended Giles Coke replaced by Ross Forbes. New loan signing Michael McGlinchey started on the bench.[LNB]The Steelmen started well and carved out the first real chance of the match when Keith Lasley whipped in a cross from the right for John Sutton but he nodded just over from close range.[LNB]Lukas Jutkiewicz then tried his luck from distance but drilled straight into the hands of Allan McGregor, with the Rangers goalkeeper able to smother easily.[LNB]The on-loan Everton man was threatening again moments later, this time turning and unleashing a point-blank left-foot shot that was also blocked by McGregor.[LNB]The Rangers goalkeeper was called into action again as Motherwell continued to pile on the pressure, this time pushing a blistering long range effort from Sutton past his left-hand post.[LNB]Rangers then had the chance to open the scoring when Boyd was fouled just outside the box by Stephen Craigan and Steven Davis curled his free-kick narrowly past the upright.[LNB]Instead, it was Motherwell who took the lead under similar circumstances with 28 minutes gone. Jim O'Brien was felled by Davis and Hateley left McGregor with no chance with a superb free-kick that smashed into the top corner.[LNB]The visitors tried to hit back when Boyd unleashed a ferocious volley from 30-yards but goalkeeper John Ruddy was able to gather, before then blocking from Lee McCulloch.[LNB]Rangers made a change at the interval, with Nacho Novo replacing Kirk Broadfoot and Steven Whittaker switching to right-back, as they desperately tried to haul themselves back into the game.[LNB]However, there was a controversial moment with 54 minutes gone when Motherwell were denied a second goal of the night.[LNB]Hateley's free-kick was met by Craigan, whose effort looked netbound and was helped over the line by Forbes only for the latter to be flagged for offside - despite television pictures appearing to show he was onside.[LNB]At the other end, a Davis corner broke for Novo and he rifled a powerful volley from just outside the box only to be denied by an alert Ruddy.[LNB]Rangers pushed forward in a bid to snatch a point and Ruddy was forced to block from Davis, before Boyd blasted well over from close-range.[LNB]But the striker made amends with 80 minutes on the clock when he collected a cross from the left from Sasa Papac and lashed into the back of the net from the six-yard box.[LNB]A lacklustre Rangers would no doubt have been happy with the draw on a difficult night at Fir Park but Celtic's win over Hearts allowed them to close the gap on the SPL leaders to eight points.[LNB][LNB]
