Robbo: Boy is out of his depth as the 4th official
opportunity for them. We told them to put a performance in that showed they are desperate to stay in touch at the top.”
Gerrard refused to get too carried away, however, and didn’t want to get involved in a discussion about a title challenge.
He said: “All we need to do is focus on the next game against Livingston. We have been really strong at Ibrox as you saw again today.
‘The only thing I will be focusing on is Livingston and getting three points to try and stay in the mix while Europe is going on. Let’s assess it at the right time. It’s not the right time now. There will come a time for that.”
But he admitted the secondhalf display against Motherwell delighted him.
Gerrard said: “We stressed in the build-up, ‘Don’t get involved in a war or a battle’. We wanted them to compete and match Motherwell’s physicality but this was a game for making the pitch as big as we could and using the ball well.
“We knew we’d get chances by doing that. But we got involved emotionally. At half-time I asked for calmness and they were superb in the second half.” BY DAVID McCARTHY STEPHEN ROBINSON last night insisted fourth official Craig Napier was “out of his depth” after the Motherwell boss was sent to the stand for a touchline bust-up.
Robinson exchanged words with Rangers No.2 Gary McAllister and coach Tom Culshaw after Gers were awarded a first-half penalty and Well’s Carl McHugh was sent off.
After a consultation between Napier and referee Craig Thomson, Robinson was also sent packing.
But he said: “Members of their staff came up to voice their opinion, that was it. I was the only one who got sent to the stand.
“There is a young boy who is out of his depth as a fourth official. He obviously can’t deal with it.
“I didn’t think it was a major incident. Steven (Gerrard) even said, ‘Don’t worry about it, I’ll sort it out’. He told his staff to sit back down again.”
Rangers went 2-1 up from that penalty and Robinson watched a second-half horror show unfold as his team crashed 7-1. The Well boss said: “It was so disappointing to watch in the second half. “We certainly can’t blame the referee for four or five of the goals we let in.” But Robinson was scathing in his assessment of McHugh’s red card because he believes the first booking for a foul on Alfredo Morelos was harsh. He said: “I thought it was a penalty. The letter of the law suggests he needs to be sent off. But the first booking is a disgrace. I have to say refs are getting conned by the same people.” Defender Richard Tait apologised to the fans for their collapse and said: “It’s a terrible scoreline and totally unacceptable on our part.”