On what was billed as retro jersey day at Ibrox, Rangers supporters were encouraged to dig out some of their favourite kits from yesteryear and wear them for this home Premiership clash with Motherwell.
It certainly made for a colourful trip down memory lane. Up in the stands, plenty of bold fashion statements were made by fans decked out in tops from the 80s and 90s.
However, on the pitch, there were no such statements. Instead, only an awkward and clumsy stagger along the catwalk from Danny Rohl’s Rangers team.
With the title race continuing to deliver more twists and turns than Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Rangers came off the rails here.
A fatal blow? Not quite. Not with four games still to play. But the doctors are now at the point of calling for life support.
Especially given that three of those four matches are away from home — against Hearts next Monday, followed by trips to Celtic and Falkirk.
Emmanuel Longelo silenced the Ibrox crowd with a thoroughly merited winner for the visitors
Shortly after full-time, all eyes turned to Easter Road. How bad would the damage be? Not quite catastrophic if Hibs, leading 1-0 at that point, could do them a favour.
But Hearts turning it around to win 2-1? That was huge. A blow of seismic importance. The league leaders are now four points clear of Rangers.
If they beat Rohl’s side next Monday to go seven clear, that would kill Rangers off and put the final nail in the coffin.
As was the case against Falkirk a fortnight ago, Rohl’s side made an awful start here and fell two goals behind to a Motherwell team who played them off the pitch for 45 minutes. They were lucky to be only two down.
On this occasion, there would be no great act of escapology. Trying to claw their way back from a two-goal deficit, Rangers dug themselves a hole and ultimately couldn’t get out of it.
They gave it a good go, getting it back to 2-2. But when Motherwell’s Emmanuel Longelo fired the ball past Jack Butland in the final minute, you could have heard a pin drop inside Ibrox.
It was a hammer blow to Rangers’ title chances, no matter how much Rohl urged fans to keep the faith afterwards.
His team have major issues defensively, conceding nine goals in their last four matches. They play only in fits and starts, they rely on moments, and they lack genuine conviction.
Danny Rohl can’t bear to look as his Rangers side throw away a huge three points at Ibrox
Rohl stuck with the same system that had worked so well in the second-half fightback at Falkirk, with Bojan Miovski and Youssef Chermiti deployed together up front.
The expectation was that Rangers would be fresh and raring to go after heading away to a warm-weather training camp in La Manga during the break from their last fixture.
But they started this match in such appalling fashion that it made you question exactly what the purpose of that exercise had been.
The performance was completely at odds with the atmosphere. Barring the Old Firm derbies, this was as loud as Ibrox has been all season as kick-off approached.
Motherwell were on the front foot right from the off. They played with a tempo and sense of ambition that Rangers simply could not match.
Barring a recent blip which saw them arrive at Ibrox without a win in their last five matches, Jens Berthel Askou’s side have been a revelation this season.
This was total vindication of the fact that Motherwell wound up with five players — more than any other team — in the PFA Scotland team of the year.
Determined to play out from the back at every opportunity, they knocked the ball around and enticed a press from Rangers which never looked coherent enough to trouble the visitors.
The result was startling. Time and time again, the claret-and-amber jerseys simply popped the ball around and played their way through. Especially in the centre of the pitch, Rangers were chasing shadows.
Motherwell scored the opening goal on 16 minutes, the outstanding Lukas Fadinger driving forward from midfield and exchanging a one-two with Stephen O’Donnell.
Longelo’s late winner was a hammer blow to the title aspirations of the Ibrox men
Nobody in a Rangers jersey tracked the run. Fadinger still had a fair bit to do, but he fired a good low finish beyond Butland. The noise levels inside Ibrox were suddenly very different in nature.
A sense of anxiety and frustration soon spread around the stadium. Motherwell were playing with swagger and freedom.
Their three in midfield — Fadinger along with Callum Slattery and Elliot Watt — were absolutely sensational. The same could be said of Elijah Just who drifted around and caused all manner of chaos.
It was 2-0 on 26 minutes. Tom Sparrow played in a cross from the right and Longelo arrived at the back post to thump the ball high into the net.
Knowing that the league title could well be slipping away, the Ibrox crowd were absolutely apoplectic by this point.
All the more so when Slattery missed a huge chance to make it 3-0. There was a very plausible argument that Rohl should have changed it after half an hour. He had surely seen more than enough by then.
There was no width in the Rangers team at all. They looked terrified to play the ball forward at times, constantly going back to the centre-backs and goalkeeper. They were in an almighty hole.
Rohl waited until half-time to make a triple change, with James Tavernier, Mohamed Diomande and Mikey Moore coming on to replace Tochi Chukwuani, Jayden Meghoma and Miovski.
The improvement was almost instantaneous. Only six minutes after the break, the fightback started when Chermiti latched on to a Diomande pass.
Showing good composure as he advanced towards goal, the Portuguese striker scurried away from Paul McGinn and drilled the ball low past Calum Ward.
Chermiti’s header made it 2-2 and gave Rohl’s men hope of another dramatic turnaround
Suddenly, a way back. A lifeline when the title looked dead and buried for those opening 45 minutes. Rocking once again, Ibrox roared its approval.
A slick move on the hour saw Chermiti blaze over from around 12 yards out. It was a terrific chance, but he would make amends on 70 minutes as Rangers found the equaliser.
From a James Tavernier corner, Manny Fernandez rose at the back post and headed the ball back across the face of goal. It hung in the air and was there to be won. Chermiti threw himself at it, combining with Raskin to bundle the ball over the line for 2-2.
With 20 minutes to play, this game was now there to be won. Aasgaard had a glorious chance to complete the comeback but he fired a tame effort over the bar when he ought to have buried it.
Motherwell certainly had not crumbled. Askou’s men were always a threat on the counter, led by the nimble dancing feet of Just at the top of the pitch.
With 90 minutes on the clock, it was another slick counter-attack which saw them snatch all three points and leave Ibrox stunned.
It all started with goalkeeper Ward throwing the ball out to O’Donnell. He fed Longelo and the wide man cut inside and fired a shot at goal, the ball clipping the head of Fernandez as it flew past Butland and into the net.
There was a late chance for Chermiti to rescue a point when a loose ball broke to him no more than six yards out, but Ward spread himself and made the save, with Moore skewing the rebound over the bar.
Rangers (4-2-2-2): Butland 5; Sterling 6 (Aarons 77), Djiga 5, Fernandez 5, Meghoma 4 (Tavernier 46); Chukwuani 5, Raskin 5; Gassama 4 (Moore 46), Aasgaard 5; Chermiti 7, Miovski 5 (Diomande 46). Booked: Sterling. Manager: Danny Rohl 5.
Motherwell (4-3-3): Ward 7; O’Donnell 7, McGinn 6, Welsh 6 (McGhee 55), Longelo 8; FADINGER 8, Watt 7.5, Slattery 7.5 (Hendry 90); Sparrow 7 (Gordon 90), Just 8 (Said 72), Maswanhise 7 (Charles-Cook 72). Booked: Longelo, Slattery. Manager: Jens Berthel Askou 8.
Referee: Kevin Clancy.
Attendance: 50,970.
