Old Firm hangover not to blame for slump in results, claims Murty

Graeme Murty denied Rangers are suffering an Old Firm hangover despite seeing them slip up for the third game running.

Gers had to mount a second-half comeback against Motherwell on Saturday to avoid a hat-trick of consecutive top flight league defeats for the first time since October 2000.

But they could only claim a 2-2 draw as James Tavernier and Jamie Murphy cancelled out early Curtis Main and Allan Campbell strikes for Well.

It means the Ibrox side have taken just one point from the last nine available following defeats to Celtic and Kilmarnock and, as well as allowing Aberdeen to move level on points in the race for second, they now have Hibernian racing up just four points behind, with both rivals also boasting a game in hand.

But Murty insists his team’s latest disappointment has nothing to do with last month’s morale-sapping 3-2 loss to Brendan Rodgers’ 10-man Hoops at Ibrox.

“No, it’s down to this game, we just didn’t deal with Motherwell’s threat,” he said.

“It’s nothing to do with any previous game, we just didn’t deal with a very specific area of trouble to our team and it caused us problems.

“We changed mindset rather than tactics in the second half and dealt with it much better.”

Gers struggled to cope with the raw physicality presented by Well striker Main.

And defender Bruno Alves admits his side need to find a way to get to grips with the threat posed by their opponents.

“We need to work harder and not concede so many goals,” he said.

“We need to adapt faster to what was going on in the first half. We adjusted and changed the behaviour in the second half.

“It was much better and we even had the chance to win the game. We must try to work harder until the end of the season to try to win all the games that we have.”

Main was the stand-out performer at Fir Park, tucking home a penalty, laying on Campbell’s goal and generally giving the Light Blues a torrid afternoon.

Motherwell boss Stephen Robinson reckons he has ensured the disappointment over Louis Moult’s January departure to Preston has quickly dissipated.

But he is desperate to ensure his new talisman is not lured away like his former top scorer. “Maino was excellent,” he said. “People told me I shouldn’t sign him as he hasn’t scored a lot of goals.

“But I think he has been as successful as Louis for us. He’s replaced him and done brilliantly. I certainly don’t want to sell him though. My ambition is to be a topsix side and to do that you need players like Curtis Main.”