Hard labour for Rangers

Scorers: Flo (35min), de Boer (68), Caniggia (90).

Rangers continue to graft away in second place in the SPL, but graft is surely the word. Nothing about this victory yesterday over an impoverished Motherwell team will have caused Martin O'Neill any seizures. O'Neill's Celtic come to Ibrox for the first Old Firm meeting of the season in two weeks' time, and on all current evidence, they will enter the match as favourites. Rangers, should they concede three points then, would certainly be limping in the championship.

Those who appreciate the random nature and erratic factors of the Glasgow derby will regard such talk as premature. There is no denying, though, the teething strains of Dick Advocaat's side. Yesterday, it took a Rangers breakthrough, and possibly even a second goal after 68 minutes from Ronald de Boer, to bring calm and order to their play. After a late third goal, there was warm applause around Ibrox for this result, but many of these same supporters had been in a state of barking madness earlier.

Advocaat can cite a bitter toll of injuries, and his team's play is certainly handicapped by a regiment of missing players. The old argument, though, prevails. Rangers yesterday had Craig Moore, Arthur Numan, Russell Latapy, Tore Andre Flo, Ronald de Boer and Neil McCann in their ranks, a calibre of personnel which would be expected to produce something less doughty and dogged than this. In the final third of the field, Advocaat's team too often seemed lost for a scalpel.

The Rangers manager wasn't exactly enthusing later, but he did express satisfaction at chances that were created and the grabbing of three goals. ''Over the 90 minutes I'd say it was a reasonable performance,'' said Advocaat. Much more welcoming to him will have been the second half appearance of Barry Ferguson for his first piece of action since August 1. Things might even be looking up for Rangers' set-upon manager. Today, playing in the Rangers under-21 side, Christian Nerlinger and Michael Ball will also resume work.

The same European confusion, though, reigns around Ibrox. With all postponed UEFA Cup ties going ahead this Thursday, and UEFA still insisting on Rangers visiting Dagestan, it will take a climbdown from someone around Govan for Rangers to remain involved in the tournament. ''If UEFA were going to change their mind, I think they would have done so by now,'' said Advocaat. ''But maybe something will happen tomorrow.''

Yesterday also produced the time-honoured Ibrox anti-hero in the guise of the referee. Mike McCurry, abused and harangued throughout by the 47,000 crowd, certainly made some eccentric decisions, but on other

occasions he also rightly and determinedly withstood the pressures of the environment to blithely blow in Motherwell's favour. All this made him a man reviled.

This included a confusing moment in the second half when Rangers appealed for a penalty after Claudio Caniggia's cross appeared to strike a Motherwell arm. Having waved play on, McCurry was eventually summoned by his standside linesman, who evidently felt an offence had been committed and wished to debate it with the referee. McCurry duly heard his

colleague out before deciding he had been correct all along, and he might have been right.

The match had toil and graft etched all over it. With Ferguson's arrival after half-time, Rangers were injected with more poise, but too much of the football was still a labour to watch. Nor did a busy but not overly-impressive Rangers augur well for Motherwell's hopes. Billy Davies repeated yesterday that he thought better times were around the corner for his team, yet for most of this match against workmanlike opponents, his men were apprehended in their own half.

Things might have proved different for Motherwell had their best chance of the match been converted within a minute of play. This, though, is almost a rite of passage of teams eventually being put down in Glasgow: the early squandering of a decent chance when home defenders are still dozing. In the opening seconds, Stephen Pearson certainly bounded into a prime shooting position, but Stefan Klos leapt to block at his feet.

For one of football's aristocrats,

de Boer has received his share of dog's abuse since arriving at Ibrox, the consequence of a knee ailment imported from Barcelona which has clearly hampered his play. In recent games, de Boer has exhibited some exquisite touches with the ball, although a passionless

air about him continues to attract

critics. This game, though, might prove a breakthrough for the Dutchman.

He was in the thick of all Rangers' creative sweat and added an opportune goal before being substituted in the

second half.

De Boer was also at the centre of one of the game's controversies. In the midst of some chest-puffing Rangers pressure, he again had Greg Strong at his back, this time inside the penalty area, where he once more confounded the defender. Whether or not Strong's leg mercilessly chopped down the striker was unclear, but de Boer certainly sacrificed a scoring chance as he fell. Mike McCurry had no hesitation in awarding a penalty.

In the ensuing moments a minor rammy threatened. Strong argued vehemently with de Boer that he had deliberately thrown himself to the ground, while in one of the greatest acts of stupidity witnessed at Ibrox in a long time, Karl Ready stalked over on his great beanpole legs to offer de Boer a palm-off in the face similar to that from a rugby flanker.

All the fuss came to nothing. Ready was booked for an offence that many referees would have rewarded with a red card. In slovenly fashion, Russell Latapy also squandered his spot-kick, tamely executing a low shot to Mark Brown's right which the goalkeeper competently saved.

Flo, intermittently adept and clumsy, poked Rangers ahead after 35 minutes. Latapy's pass into the box seemed to race beyond the big striker before he extended one of the long oars he calls his legs to shape the ball's path beyond the outstretched Brown. After 68 minutes, De Boer then scored a not dissimilar goal from the same design, meeting Latapy's cross to direct a low shot past Brown from 12 yards.

Caniggia, brought on to replace de Boer moments after his goal, sealed this victory with the oddest effort moments from time. Latapy's free-

kick from the left bounded aimlessly into Motherwell's box and seemed to go through the Argentinian's legs as it bounced into the net. A bashful Caniggia, by his body language, implied that he might have got a touch, but it must have been the faintest. Rangers, though, won't quibble over any goals they contrive these days.