Motherwell 1 – 1 Rangers

Russell Martin’s Rangers were booed off after Emmanuel Longelo lashed in late on for Motherwell to draw the opening-day Scottish Premiership clash at Fir Park 1-1.

James Tavernier’s first-half header had the visitors in control at the break, with dominant Rangers also having hit the bar through Danilo.

But new Motherwell boss Jens Berthel Askou fired up his side at the interval and they were far more threatening in the second 45, eventually grabbing their deserved leveller when Longelo blasted the ball into the bottom corner from Elijah Just’s layoff.

The home side could have won it, too, with Jack Butland forced into a sharp save in stoppage time to deny Tom Sparrow.

“We were lucky to get a point,” Martin conceded to Sky Sports afterwards, before slamming the attitude of his players. “We were nowhere near where we need to be, and I’m extremely disappointed and hurt by that. They were braver than us, they were more aggressive than us.”

Rangers have now failed to win their past three opening-day games, with Martin following a trend set by Michael Beale and then Philippe Clement and the new head coach will have heard his players booed by the travelling support at full-time.

It is a frustrating end to a week which had seen Rangers progress in Champions League qualifying past Panathinaikos on Wednesday. They will now have to watch on as Celtic take on St Mirren live on Sky Sports on Sunday, with the defending champions already handed a chance to make early headway in the title race.

There had been warning signs during the first half, even when Rangers were on top, that Motherwell could cause problems.

Butland was unconvincing when he spilled Langelo’s shot and had to react to prevent Apostolos Stamatelopoulos from putting away the rebound.

But the momentum really shifted in the second period. Just failed to head on target when Callum Slattery’s cross found him at back post with Butland stranded, Nasser Djiga blocked a Stamatelopoulos’ shot and the frontman was then just beaten to a loose ball in the box by John Souttar when he looked to convert Butland’s parry from Paul McGinn’s effort.

Sub Lyall Cameron shot straight at Calum Ward from a Rangers corner but Motherwell continued to create the better openings, with Stamatelopoulos heading another good chance off target from Just’s cross soon after.

The hosts kept pushing until the end and finally got their reward, with Longelo giving Butland no chance with his low drive into the corner to grab a point and sound alarm bells for Rangers.

Martin: It’s a mentality problem

Rangers head coach Russell Martin to Sky Sports:

“We were lucky to get a point. Motherwell played great. We were nowhere near where we need to be. I’m extremely disappointed and hurt by that. They were braver than us, they were more aggressive than us.

“There is a default here at this football club to revert to type. When it’s going really well, everyone is all-in, it’s really good. When it’s not going well you protect yourself a little bit, self-preservation stuff. You have to be all-in all the time.

“When you want to just jog around and do what you want to do there’s a big problem. Some of them have to drop their ego. Today isn’t tactical, it’s a mentality problem. We got more than we deserved.”

Analysis: Martin needs time – but two points dropped in title race

Sky Sports’ Chris Sutton:

“Russell Martin needs time. I’m sure he will get time, but the start for Russell is really important. We spoke before the game about a certain element of Rangers support not really over enamoured with the appointment.

“Rangers, who were careless last season, 34 points outside of Celtic they dropped last season, this is another two-point drop if Rangers want to go and win the title.

“But fair play to Motherwell. We talked about them and their expansive approach, gave away such a poor goal but they were brave in the second half, they deserved the equaliser and had it not been for Butland at the end, Sparrow nearly nicked it.

“We all knew there was a lot of work to do for Rangers.”

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