Graham Dorrans scored twice on his competitive Rangers debut as Pedro Caixinha’s side opened their Ladbrokes Premiership campaign yesterday with victory over Motherwell, though the game at Fir Park was not without its controversial moments.
The winning goal came from a 58th-minute penalty converted by Dorrans, which Motherwell’s captain Carl McHugh claimed “was never a penalty in a million years”. Bobby Madden, the referee, might also have granted Motherwell a penalty when the ball struck Lee Hodson, while Rangers twice struck the woodwork through Josh Windass.
The day belonged to Dorrans and his manager. Dorrans, signed for £1.3 million from Norwich City, said: “This was something I’ve always dreamed of since I was a kid and I was excited before the game. We were under the cosh a little towards the end but we saw it out well.”
Walter Smith had said that Caixinha “simply has to find a way to win with Rangers” and the Portuguese coach did just that on the first day of the new campaign. There was pressure on Caixinha coming to Fir Park, but he got his reward.
“The only goal, the only objective, was to come here and win,” he said. “So I need to be happy with that. Now we just need to play 37 more finals. I’m really happy for Graham Dorrans. At 29, he is playing for his lifetime club. He is a Rangers supporter and he is passionate about the club. So I’m happy he could give us the two goals which allowed us to take the three points.
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“It’s about winning. You might speak about performances but we are result-orientated. If you ask me, ‘could we have a different history from this game, if we take our chances, if we control more of the game?’ then I totally agree. So we will focus on the key [areas] we need to improve.”
The Motherwell manager, Stephen Robinson, was almost tearing his hair out at the end, given the chances his team had to secure an equaliser. Ryan Bowman hit a post and Wes Foderingham somehow made a last-gasp save from Alex Fisher, all in the last 15 minutes. Louis Moult also missed a sitter.
“I am really frustrated,” said Robinson. “If you don’t take your chances you don’t win matches, and we had a lot of chances. [Ryan] Bowman and [Alex] Fisher had two they would put away in their sleep. When that happens you will get punished by top teams.
“We dominated large parts of the game. We potentially could have had a penalty ourselves and we’ve lost goals from two set-plays. Nobody let anyone down.”
Aberdeen, with goals from Anthony O’Connor and Miles Storey, defeated ten-man Hamilton 2-0 at Pittodrie.