Bara: We kept our cool in the Ibrox cauldron

IAN BARACLOUGH hailed his team’s ability to rise to the grand occasion as Motherwell sank Rangers at Ibrox.

Playing in front of 50,000 fans in Govan, Well stunned the vast majority of them with a hat-trick of killer goals to give them a 3-1 advantage heading into Sunday’s Premiership play-off second leg at Fir Park.

While the vociferous crowd got behind the hosts early on, frustrating eventually set in as they failed to assert their dominance in possession.

That frustration turned to anger as their team slipped three goals behind, only for Darren McGregor’s late header to keep some hope alive.

And in what was Motherwell’s biggest game for years, manager Baraclough praised the cool heads of his Steelmen in claret and amber.

“To a man they were fantastic,” he said.

“The players dealt with the crowd, dealt with the magnitude of the situations and I thought we were fantastically calm under pressure when they were putting balls into the box.

“They are at home, the crowd dictates that they go forward and I just felt that we would have chances when they do leaves themselves 2 v 2 or if we counter at pace.

“I thought we did that on both sides through Lionel Ainsworth, Marvin Johnson and Lee Erwin.

“We knew if we picked the right passes and stayed cool in the final third there was a good chance we would be able to score.”

Motherwell’s game plan was clear from the off as the visitors attempted to absorb as much pressure as they could while hitting Rangers on the counter.

It appeared a risky strategy for the opening exchanges, but it worked to perfection on 27 minutes when Lee Erwin gave the Fir Park side the lead from a quick breakaway.

“We’ve come up here with a game plan, we worked on our shape, drawing them on so we could counter at pace ad we did that I thought fantastically well,” said Baraclough.

“We could have had one or two more if we had picked the right pass but I can’t fault them for scoring three goals away from home.

“For me, it doesn’t surprise me because we have good players and when they put it all together they can produce a performance like that.

“It could have been more. We had one or two chances but Rangers could have added to it as well.”

The 3-1 advantage puts Well in an enviable position going into Sunday’s second leg.

Rangers, who were constantly caught out at the back as they pushed for goals, will have to do exactly the same thing in Lanarkshire backed by just 1500 fans. But is the tie over? “It’s definitely not over, we know that. We also know they are a threat,” said Baraclough.

“They put a lot of balls into the box that we managed to deal with, we need to do that again on Sunday.

“If you don’t you’ll get punished, but the tie’s not over and nobody is kidding themselves.

“We must freshen up and make sure we are right for three days’ time and ready to put in a performance full of spirit and fight for the jersey.”