Rangers within a point
Rangers 4 Motherwell 1
Rangers striker Nacho Novo grabbed a double against Motherwell to help cut Celtic’s lead at the top of the Bank of Scotland Premier League table to a single point again.
The Spaniard struck twice in the opening 15 minutes at Ibrox to bring his tally for the season to 17 – level with Celtic striker John Hartson.
The visitors had hauled themselves back into the game four minutes after the break through Scott McDonald.
But Shota Arveladze scored for the second week running in the 52nd minute, while Steven Thompson’s strike killed off any hopes of a revival for Motherwell.
Novo had missed last week’s win over Kilmarnock through suspension and was determined to make the most of his return to the starting line-up before the second part of his ban kicks in again on New Year’s Day.
But Rangers defender Jean-Alain Boumsong was forced to withdraw from the game after pulling a hamstring during the warm-up, meaning Zurab Khizanishvili was thrown into the action at the last minute.
But the Ibrox side quickly set about showing they were not too affected by the absence of the France international, who has been the subject of a rejected bid by Newcastle, and they were ahead in the third minute.
Fernando Ricksen flighted a cross into the box and Novo wriggled between the static Martyn Corrigan and Stephen Craigan to collect the ball and send a delightful flick into the back of the net from six yards.
Rangers were enjoying all the pressure early in the game and they could have added to that tally when Dado Prso went on a surging run, skipping past Craigan before eventually being hauled down on the edge of the box by David Partridge.
Gregory Vignal stepped up for the free-kick and the resultant effort was powerful enough, but he was just off-target and the ball drifted wide of the upright.
Rangers did not have to wait too long for their second goal, however, and they doubled their advantage after 15 minutes as Novo grabbed his second of the day.
Ricksen’s head-flick found Arveladze and he fed the ball through to Novo to send a curling effort past stand-in Motherwell goalkeeper Barry John Corr for his second of the day.
Motherwell tried to haul themselves back into the game before the interval and McDonald – back in the team after a back injury – came closest with a point-blank shot which fell just over the crossbar.
But Novo then squandered a great opportunity to record a hat-trick.
Vignal squared the ball across the face of goal into the path of the tiny hitman but he mis-kicked under pressure from Steven Hammell.
Motherwell were out of the blocks quickly in the second half and pulled a goal back just four minutes after the re-start.
McDonald collected the ball inside the box and created space for himself before sending a curling effort past the fully outstretched Stefan Klos into the top corner of the net.
But Rangers stretched their lead again in the 53rd minute.
This time, Novo was the provider when he set up Arveladze, who swept home at the near post leaving Corr with little chance.
Vignal then claimed he had been brought down in the box by Paul Quinn, an incident which seemed more justified in earning the on-loan Liverpool defender a yellow card than a previous 31st-minute caution for diving.
Arveladze was clearly hungry for more goals and embarked on a weaving run before trying his luck with a shot on goal, but he was denied by a superb piece of goalkeeping from Corr.
The Motherwell goalkeeper was in impressive form again a few minutes later.
Novo threaded the ball through to Ricksen as he burst into the box, but Corr had raced off his line to block the Dutchman’s strike.
Steven Thompson replaced Prso with 15 minutes remaining and had the final say in the game when he cleverly turned Partridge in the area before firing past Corr with just four minutes to go.
