Gerrard shoulders blame for Well’s late equaliser

MOTHERWELL 3 RANGERS 3

Steven Gerrard offered to shoulder the blame the last-gasp equaliser after Rangers threw away victory at Fir Park.

With the visitors clinging on to a 3-2 lead, Gerrard decided to end Lee Wallace’s exile by bringing the former skipper on to help defend a 94th-minute corner.

But, as the Ibrox men reshuffled, Well took advantage, with skipper Peter Hartley bundling home with the last kick of the match.

It was a bitter blow for Gerrard’s team as they now slip four points behind early pace-setters Hearts.

The former Liverpool skipper admits his side need to tighten up while defending set-pieces after seeing Carl Mchugh nod home from a Gael Bigirimana free-kick in the first half.

But he also vowed to put his hands up if the decision to introduce Wallace was the cause of their late slip-up.

He said: “They had four or five big units on there then I have a defender sitting behind me who is 6ft 3in, and with all due respect to Ovie Ejaria – he was good today – Lee Wallace is a lot better at defending set-pieces. That was the thinking behind it.

“If I’ve got it wrong I’ll take the blame, no problem.”

Rangers found themselves behind for the first time since Gerrard took over after three minutes when Danny Johnson pounced on a slip by Connor Goldson to lob Allan Mcgregor.

The visitors hit back when Kyle Lafferty grabbed his first goal since returning to the club from Hearts and added a second as he then cancelled out Mchugh’s header.

Rangers completed the turnaround when an Ejaria strike spilled through Well goalkeeper Trevor Carson’s hands just before half-time. But, just as the Gers tripped up in stoppage time against Aberdeen on the opening day, they dropped another two points late on.

In Saturday’s games, Hearts maintained their 100% start after edging to a 1-0 win at 10-man Kilmarnock.

Gary Dicker saw red for a rash lunge on Calum Morrison and Uche Ikpeazu glanced in the winner with his head.

Hibernian and Aberdeen maintained their unbeaten starts after Jamie Maclaren rescued a 1-1 draw for Neil Lennon’s men four minutes from time.

The Dons took the lead on the stroke of half-time at Easter Road when Tommie Hoban got the final touch in a goalmouth scramble.

Gary Holt made a winning start to life as Livingston boss after goals from Jack Hamilton and Alan Lithgow clinched a 2-0 victory at St Mirren.