Hamza Igamane salvages point for Philippe Clement’s Rangers at Motherwell

A second-half double from substitute Hamza Igamane rescued a point for Rangers at Motherwell but the disjointed visitors fell further behind William Hill Premiership leaders Celtic.

Philippe Clement came under fresh fire following the 2-1 Boxing Day defeat at St Mirren and there was uproar among the travelling supporters as Apostolos Stamatelopoulos put the hosts ahead in the 16th minute before Tawanda Maswanhise added a second in the 35th minute.

Interval replacement Igamane reduced the deficit in the 50th minute before Well boss Stuart Kettlewell was shown a red card by referee Kevin Clancy, presumably for dissent.

Then, after Motherwell twice had the ball in the Rangers net only for infringements to rule out goals, Igamane’s curling shot in the 68th minute made it 2-2.

And despite 10 added minutes the comeback could not be completed and the Light Blues were left 14 points behind the Hoops, with the title all but gone – and Clement’s future uncertain.

Potentially with one eye on Thursday’s game against Celtic but certainly with an element of rolling the dice, Clement reintroduced Ridvan Yilmaz, Robin Propper, Nico Raskin, Kieran Dowell, Danilo, Cyriel Dessers and Oscar Cortes, the latter back for the first time since a substitute appearance against Dundee in September.

The Steelmen, who had Liam Gordon, Andy Halliday and Stamatelopoulos back in the side, were on the back of a 4-0 defeat at Celtic Park but would have been more confident of a result against Rangers.

Dessers should have scored in the seventh minute from Yilmaz’s pin-point cross but his weak volley was straight at goalkeeper Aston Oxborough.

However, Rangers found themselves behind after Stamatelopoulos got the break of the ball from a Propper header – the Light Blues claimed in vain for handball – and played a one-two with Maswanhise before racing through to toe-poke the ball under Gers keeper Jack Butland from the edge of the box.

A VAR check confirmed the goal before Danilo then headed another fine Yilmaz cross wide of the target from eight yards.

The visitors could not get a grip of the game and another VAR check for a potential Rangers penalty when Raskin went down in the Well box came to nothing.

There was more woe for the Ibrox men when Maswanhise picked up a Lennon Miller header inside the box, turned inside Gers skipper James Tavernier and coolly knocked the ball past Butland from 12 yards, the Motherwell cheers soon drowned out by boos from the travelling support.

As expected, Clement made interval changes which has become a feature of the season with Vaclav Cerny and Igamane on for the anonymous Dowell and the ineffective Dessers, with Tony Watt taking over from injured Stamatelopoulos.

Igamane soon flashed a drive wide of the goal but, after Danilo had struck the post with a drive, the Moroccan striker hammered the ball high past Oxborough from 12 yards.

Miller was shown a yellow card by referee Clancy for a tackle on Cortes, with VAR confirming it was not a red.

Soon after Kettlewell was sent packing after initially being shown a yellow, Butland, under pressure from Watt, punched an Andy Halliday corner into his own net but Clancy awarded a foul on the keeper.

Watt had the ball in the Gers net in the 63rd minute only for an offside against Dan Casey, before he had a header against the bar and a shot saved by Butland.

Then came more drama when the lively Igamane levelled with a curling shot, and there was more frantic penalty box action at both ends, but more dropped points have done little for Clement’s long-term prospects.