Cantwell eases Rangers past Motherwell to close gap on Celtic to two points
Rangers beat Motherwell 2-0 at a wet and wild Fir Park, and with victory returned to touching distance of the Scottish Premiership leaders Celtic.
Kieran Dowell started and finished the move for the opening goal in the fourth minute before Todd Cantwell fired in a second after 16 minutes of a first half which should have brought more goals.
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Rangers moved back to being two points behind their Old Firm rivals with a game in hand and now turn their focus to Ross County on Wednesday night, with the crucial encounter at Celtic Park on 30 December now looming large.
Philippe Clement has gone 16 games unbeaten since taking over from Michael Beale in October but, by contrast, Motherwell have gone 15 games without a win and they remain five points ahead of second-bottom Livingston. Stuart Kettlewell, the manager, must wonder how and when they are going to turn it around as he prepares for the trip to Aberdeen in midweek.
An increasing injury list amid a hectic fixture schedule led to Clement making four changes, with Leon Balogun, Cantwell, Dujon Sterling and Cyriel Dessers returning with the home side unchanged.
It was a nightmare start for Kettlewell’s players, who soon found themselves a goal down. Dowell robbed Harry Paton at the edge of the Motherwell penalty area and played a one-two with Dessers before blasting the ball high past the Well keeper Liam Kelly for his second goal for the Light Blues since signing in the summer from Norwich.
Well wobbled further when asked to defend. Balogun headed a Ross McCausland cross over the bar from close range before Kelly made a save from a Connor Goldson header. However, the second goal was on its way, arriving when the left-back Ridvan Yilmaz’s cross into the box was controlled by Abdallah Sima with Cantwell running in to sweep the ball low past the diving Kelly.
A speculative drive from Callum Slattery which skipped past the Rangers goal was their only real response.
Dessers and Goldson both failed to finish from just yards out and Kelly saved a low drive from Dessers as Rangers sporadically threatened.
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There was a Motherwell penalty shout in the 75th minute when Yilmaz bumped Brodie Spencer to the ground inside the Gers box but the referee David Dickinson was unmoved and the Rangers escaped a melee in their penalty area moments later. The home side’s fightback fizzled out.
Dessers had the ball in the Well net in the 82nd minute and again in stoppage time but was twice ruled offside, and there was also a VAR check for a possible penalty for handball in the Rangers box that came to nothing.