Rangers vs Motherwell; Scottish Premiership
Rangers vs Motherwell. Scottish Premiership.
Ibrox Stadium.
Rangers 1-0 Motherwell: Lawrence Shankland injured as substitute Ryan Naderi comes on and scores winner to take Rangers up to second
Report as Ryan Naderi comes on for the injured Lawrence Shankland and gets the winner to take Rangers up to second in the Scottish Premiership
Saturday 5 September 2026 18:29, UK
Substitute Ryan Naderi capitalised upon a defensive mix-up to get the only goal of the game as Rangers beat Motherwell to go second in the Scottish Premiership.
Manager Derek McInnes was forced to watch from the stands at Ibrox as he served the second match of his two-game touchline ban for comments made last season while in charge of Hearts, with a further two games suspended.
And he would have initially been in despair after a positive Motherwell start was followed by the early withdrawal of captain Lawrence Shankland due to an injury after barely 10 minutes.
But Shakland's replacement, Naderi, would have eased the manager's frustration as he put Rangers in front within a few minutes of coming on.
A couple of loose touches from Motherwell's centre-backs saw the ball diverted back to goalkeeper Alex Paulsen, who inexplicably tried to take on the on-rushing Naderi. The forward tackled Paulsen on the edge of his area and rolled the ball into an empty net to give Rangers the lead.
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Rangers goalkeeper Ivor Pandur made two excellent saves, first to prevent Regan Charles-Cook from scoring, before saving down to his right to deny Alex Lowry after an excellent Motherwell counter-attack.
Minsu Kim squandered the first of three excellent chances he had to score when he headed straight at the goalkeeper, before Djeidi Gassama was clattered into in the area by Tom Sparrow as he tried to meet Dan Neil's cross, with the referee awarding a penalty.
With regular penalty taker Shankland off the pitch, Minsu stepped up but he missed the target, dragging his spot kick wide.
Minsu was denied again in the second half after a good Paulsen save, which saw the rebound hit the post, before the South Korean was withdrawn alongside Gassama, with Daisuke Yokota coming on as well as Kevin Kelsy for his Rangers debut.
Nico Raskin then saw a shot cleared off the line before Yokota sliced wide with the goal at his mercy.
Kevin Kelsy was unable to capitalise upon another good Rangers chance when he failed to keep a shot down, missing an opportunity to put the gloss on the win with a debut goal.
The key moments from Ibrox
9: INJURY! Shankland is limping after picking up what looked like an off-the-ball injury. Naderi replaces him.
12: GOAL! The goalkeeper is dispossessed on the edge of his area by Naderi. He'll never score an easier goal than that as he rolls it into an empty net.
16: SAVE! Charles-Cook draws a good save from Ivor Pandur in the Rangers' goal
28: SAVE! Pandur to the rescue again as he gets down well to deny Lowry
30: PENALTY to Rangers after Sparrow clumsily clatters into Gassama
32: MISS! Minsu misses his penalty, dragging his spot-kick wide
54: SAVE! Paulsen stands tall to deny Minsu
66: CLOSE! Raskin's effort is cleared off the line
71: MISS! Yokota slices wide with goal at his mercy
74: MISS! Kelsy misses an opportunity to score on debut when he shoots over from a good position.
What the managers said...
Rangers manager Derek McInnes:
"It looks like a significant hamstring injury (for Lawrence Shankland) and it might be a recurrence of the one he had at Hearts last season.
"He's a bit down about things and he might be out for a while.
"I think Shankland has benefitted from the extra attacking impetus we've had. He was in good form but it's all about the squad and players now need to step up. Kelsy was good on his debut and Naderi got his goal; we've got quality to lean on.
"It was a very strong performance; it was more than the scoreline suggested. We restricted a very good Motherwell team. I'm just annoyed and a bit frustrated that we didn't add to our lead."
Motherwell boss Alfred Johansson:
"Congratulations to Rangers; they were the better team, they deserved the three points today. We didn't play to our best today and they got the game they wanted. The game is there for us to do better, but we didn't do it.
"Alex Paulsen is a great goalkeeper who has shown that again and again and again. He showed that today. The mistake isn't even a point for me today.
"When I watch the video and when I show the video to my players they will see the potential. We are on a bad day creating a couple of chances, which could've made a big difference. Rangers will feel they should have at least two more and we stayed in the game so that's a positive."
