WHAT a difference a season makes.

On the last occasion Rangers travelled to Fir Park to take on Motherwell they ended up on the receiving end of a humiliating 3-0 defeat in the second leg of the Premiership play-off-final and a 6-1 aggregate loss overall.

Little over a year on, this victory in the opening group game of the revamped Betfred Cup underlined that the Ibrox club will be more than capable of challenging for major honours in the forthcoming campaign.

The Ladbrokes Championship winners, despite only playing one pre-season friendly this summer, defeated top flight rivals away from home courtesy of two second half goals from James Tavernier and Martyn Waghorn.

The confidence-boosting victory suggested they can, even though they have spent the last four years in the lower leagues, fare well in the campaign to come.

Mark Warburton, the Rangers manager, has spent the summer months strengthening his squad extensively. Joey Barton, Matt Crooks, Matt Gilks, Clint Hill, Lee Hodson, Niko Kranjcar and Josh Windass have all arrived. Joe Dodoo is expected to sign in the coming days.

None of the new arrivals, though, made it into the Rangers starting line-up. There was only one change from their last competitive outing in the William Hill Scottish Cup final against Hibs back in May. Harry Forrester, who had been injured for that outing at Hampden, came in for the departed Gedion Zelalem.

The hardcore element of the Motherwell supporter made sure to remind their visitors of the heavy defeat they suffered in the play-off final. They belted out chants of “we only won 6-1” and “there’s only one Cammy Bell” during the early exchanges.

For a while, it appeared as though the home team could rack up a win by another emphatic scoreline. They looked far more dangerous than their opponents and created several openings up front.

Lionel Ainsworth had a shot cleared off the line by Andy Halliday in just the second minute, Scott McDonald had an effort saved by Wes Foderingham after an underhit Tavernier passback, Chris Cadden fired wide and Marvin Johnson had an attempt blocked. Their rivals were fortunate to stay level.

Yet, it was almost inevitable that, having failed to convert on repeated occasions, Motherwell would fall behind. They did so just three minutes after the start of the second half.

Waghorn cut the ball back to Tavernier on the edge of the Motherwell area and his team mate curled it beyond Craig Samson and into the top left corner. Having netted no fewer than 15 goals last term, the right back has picked up right where he left off.

Warburton gave two of his new signings, Kranjcar and Windass, their competitive debuts in the second half. They came on for Forrester and Holt after an hour and looked bright. Elsewhere, Michael O’Halloran also took over from Miller. Rangers remained in control.

McGhee became embroiled in a touchline spat with the Rangers assistant Davie Weir due to his unhappiness at the referee’s failure to punish Tavernier for a robust challenge on Johnson. He was spoken to by Steven McLean as a result.

The Motherwell manager wasn’t complaining, however, when the match official failed to take action after Samson blocked a Waghorn shot with his arm a good five yards outside his area. “It was a good save, the best one he made all day,” said McGhee.

The news that Louis Moult, who came on in the second half, will require surgery on his groin and will miss the first three Premiership games of the season, was less well received.

Waghorn sewed up a satisfying victory for Rangers in the first minute of extra-time when he curled a left foot shot into the net off the inside of the post from 20 yards out.

“It was our first game so I’ll take 12 minutes of rustiness,” said Warburton. “I thought we dominated the game after the 15th minute and, in truth, we should have been further ahead.

“Considering it was our first competitive game, we lost out on a few one v ones and gave the ball away cheaply early on. But after that it was a very pleasing afternoon’s work.

“I thought our energy levels were really good. Most of our players have only had 45 minutes’ game time against Charleston Battery.

“We dominated possession, created chances and looked sharp. I’m really pleased. I’ll look at the game again because we could have been one or two down at the start and we should have stopped their chances.

“But then we took care of the football and won the one v ones, got tighter in key areas and, from the 15th to the 90th minute, there was only one team in it.”

Warburton confirmed that new signings Barton, Gilks, Hill and Hodson will be feature in the Betfred Cup game against Annan at Ibrox on Tuesday night. It will be enlightening to see how Rangers fare with an even stronger team.

Motherwell: Samson, Tait, Hammell, Heneghan, McManus, Ainsworth (Thomas, 67), McHugh, Johnson, Cadden (Blyth, 79), Chalmers (Moult, 60), McDonald.

Substitutes: Brill, Ferguson, Campbell, MacLean.

Yellow cards: McDonald ( 61, McHugh, 77.

Rangers: Foderingham, Tavernier, Kiernan, Wallace, Wilson, Miller (O’Halloran, 62), McKay, Forrester (Kranjcar, 62), Halliday, Holt (Windass, 69), Waghorn.

Substitutes not used: Gilks, Hill, Hodson, Thompson.

Yellow cards: Forrester (52), Windass (82) .

Referee: Steven McLean.

Attendance: 6,941.