Rangers .... 2 Motherwell .. 1
The supposed controversy over the decision of referee George Simpson to award Rangers a last-minute penalty took on a hollow look after the game when the vastly experienced Brian McClair admitted that his Motherwell team-mate, Kai Nyssonen, had indeed handled the ball in the penalty box.
By the time television pictures had been shown, we were all left wondering why there had been so many questions asked and why the referee had been so pilloried in certain quarters.
McClair was honest in his after-match comments and his remarks were then backed by the television evidence, which showed that the Finnish player had punched the ball clear when it came into the box from a Jorg Albertz corner on the right.
Quite why the Dutch player, Rob Matthaei, showed such fury is a mystery.
McClair was much more level-headed about the incident when he said: ''It was a hand ball. There is no doubt that the ball struck his hand and it was a penalty, but we felt hard done to because of the way it had all happened and because the goal came so late.
''But the most important thing for us is that we have nothing to be ashamed of in our performance today. We worked really hard and defended well. The result apart, there was a lot for us to be satisfied about in this game.''
Possibly more than there was for Rangers when you take into account that Motherwell, too, are in the throes of building a new team under their Finnish coach, Harri Kampman, just as Dick Advocaat is doing at Ibrox.
There are signs that the understanding the Dutch coach wants among his players is coming, but, also, still signs that the Ibrox side need an out-and-out striker to finish off the clever moves his team is putting together.
However, Advocaat must realise his time is limited in his attempt to win over the Rangers support. They want success immediately.
They have still to come to grips with the new patient build-up the team is using. It is not so much that they are being weaned onto the new style as that it is being force-fed to them.
Now, I believe that a change to a modern European style is the way ahead, but I have doubts as to how it will work in the hectic approach that is still prevalent in our domestic league. If Advocaat is successful, then fine, he is showing us the way ahead, and that is not before time.
However, if things do not gel quickly and, if Rangers cannot find the striker the team requires, there will be problems from a support that enjoys the
occasional cavalry charge and which is used to success.
At the weekend, the Ibrox team could have lost two valuable points against a Motherwell side that was happy to sit back in defence for almost the entire game, leaving Owen Coyle as their one man up front.
That did pay off for them when Coyle scored six minutes after half time, benefitting from a misunderstanding in the Rangers defence, which allowed him to be played onside and then to move forward and strike a low shot past the French goalkeeper, Lionel
Charbonnier, who was making his debut.
That levelled the score, because Rangers had taken the lead after quarter of an hour, when a move down the left had ended with Arthur Numan setting up Rod Wallace with a cross for a headed goal. Rangers were then asked to break down the Fir Park defence and they could not do so.
Advocaat admitted later: ''There was no space. We tried different ways to change things, but with the way Motherwell played we could not find any space in their half of the field.
''I know that other teams will play this way against us and we shall have to work out the tactics to defeat them.''
The quick passing game he has demanded will eventually work - but he does require that finisher up front and Colin Hendry needs time to adapt.
Advocaat admitted as much afterwards when he pointed out: ''Colin Hendry was hitting the type of long ball which Blackburn used and we don't. He needs time to adjust. We do not play that way and Colin is learning that.''
There were occasions when Hendry did strike the long balls that are so much a part of his game at international level. He found little response from the Rangers front men.
He will adapt and become the Scottish icon the fans want and the club requires. His influence will become enormous and his steadiness will be required if Lorenzo Amoruso persists in the careless play that has now become a concern.
There is little doubt that the Italian can build the game from the back, but, at the moment, his distribution is slapdash.
Anyhow, the penalty duly arrived and Steve Woods, who had made significant saves, could not stop Jorg Albertz's kick.
Later, Albertz insisted: ''I take the penalty kicks if I am playing. I was confident I would score.
''We do need more time to settle, but things will come right. There was no way that we deserved anything less than a victory.''
Next league games: Rangers v Kilmarnock (a). Motherwell - v Dunfermline (h).
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