Windass catches the eye as Rangers open with victory

Josh Windass once more showed the potential he has as a Rangers player. At times Motherwell found this willowy attacking midfielder unplayable, as Windass ducked and weaved past opponents with bursts of pace. He struck a post and a bar, both with delicious curling efforts, and generally terrorised the home team. If Pedro Caixinha can somehow bottle this kid’s talent, and even improve him, then not all of Mark Warburton’s 2016-17 signings will be remembered with derision.

All told, this was a satisfying start to the campaign for Caixinha, a Rangers manager who still has to convince a number of his club’s supporters. The Portuguese coach went through various tactical plans here — starting 4-4-2 and ending 3-4-3 — as he addressed the ebb and flow of these 90 minutes. Rangers were a strong collective, though lucky to survive at the end.

Going high and direct to try to salvage things, first Ryan Bowman struck a post for Motherwell and then Fisher, fed by Carl McHugh, saw his shot somehow blocked by Foderingham and wander past a post. Motherwell also had what seemed an obvious penalty denied them — against Lee Hodson — and suffered a dire Louis Moult miss.

There are such fine lines in football. Had Motherwell grabbed that late equaliser, all the old Caixinha doubts would have been aired. As it was, the Rangers legions went home happy, and their coach was beaming at the end.

What was unbelievable, from Motherwell’s point of view, was the number of wasted corners and dead-ball situations from start to finish. It was ironic that their goal came from a fine inswinging cross from Craig Tanner, because for the rest of this game so many of their deliveries were atrocious.

The game was four minutes old when Rangers took the lead. As Motherwell failed to properly clear a Daniel Candeias free kick, the ball fell to Bruno Alves, who dispatched it back across goal. Kenny Miller headed into the path of Dorrans, whose low execution took the ball through a ruck of defenders and past goalkeeper Trevor Carson. It was a dream start by Rangers.

There was a period when Rangers were rampant, and if it had been sustained, Motherwell would have been destroyed. Windass ran his own personal riot down the left, very often with Lee Wallace in support, and Motherwell looked helpless in trying to prevent it. In one spectacular run from deep in his own half Windass swept past three Motherwell players before smacking the ball against Carson’s left post. That moment in the first half summed up Rangers’ impressive tyranny.

But the visitors couldn’t sustain it. Motherwell got wise to Rangers’ ways, pushed their own men higher up the park, and the mood of this game changed. By the half hour mark the home side were well and truly in it, with Moult missing that glaring chance from eight yards. That was a horrible miss for Motherwell but they would make Rangers pay before the half-time break.

Other Motherwell chances came and went before Tanner’s teasing cross to the far post found the impressive Ben Heneghan getting his head to the ball to direct it past Foderingham and into the net. Rangers had looked good but, on sheer persistence, Motherwell were worth their equaliser.

Rangers claimed the lead again after 58 minutes when referee Bobby Madden judged Moult to have used an elbow on Fabio Cardoso and awarded the penalty. Replays of the incident indicated the referee may have got it right, and Dorrans stepped up to stroke the ball past Carson inside his left post.

With the game needing chasing, Motherwell replaced Moult, threw on Bowman and Fisher, and went decidedly more direct. It worked, too, with Bowman repeatedly stealing ahead of either Alves or Cardoso to get a flick-on, which caused Rangers some discomfort and made Caixinha take Kenny Miller off and throw on a third centre back in Danny Wilson.

Foderingham made that last-gasp save from Fisher, and Rangers gratefully escaped with their three points.