I watched Rangers beat Motherwell - still an issue to solve but two players really caught the eye

Rangers picked up another victory on Saturday in the Premiership as they defeated Motherwell 1-0 at Ibrox.

Ryan Naderi scored the only goal of the match after 12 minutes - not long after coming on for injured captain Lawrence Shankland, who could be out for up to three months after suffering a hamstring issue.

Mark Atkinson was at Ibrox to cover proceedings for The Scotsman and picks out his main takeaways:

Kevin Kelsy missed a good chance for Rangers against Motherwell at Ibrox. | SNS Group

Improved Rangers still need to solve issue

There can be no doubt that Rangers have grown in the past week. At a very low ebb following their Conference League exit against Jablonec at the end of August, they have won three games in six days over Aberdeen, Falkirk and Motherwell. Manager Derek McInnes is right to take heart from the revival.

The performance against Motherwell was the best of the trio. Rangers should have won by a two-goal margin and left chances out there. Kim Minsu missed a penalty and visiting keeper Alex Paulsen made good saves from the South Korean and Djeidi Gassama. Substitutes Daisuke Yokota and Kevin Kelsy also spurned very presentable opportunities.

Rangers are creating good moments but can’t afford to show such profligacy in their next three matches against St Mirren and Celtic twice. And they are now missing their most composed finisher in Shankland, who will have his hamstring scanned on Monday. The fear is the Scotland hitman may be out for months.

That is a blow for Rangers because their captain scored three goals in total against the Dons and Bairns and was just starting to look settled at Ibrox. With Youssef Chermiti also injured, other forwards need to step up.

Rangers look a more threatening team with Kim playing in the No 10 role, but he is yet to score and probably won’t be on penalty duties any time soon after screwing his effort wide against Motherwell. Wide men Gassama and Findlay Curtis are involved in attacking play but haven’t taken their chances.

So it falls on the three other No 9s in Naderi, Kelsy and Bojan Miovski. Naderi now has three goals to his name but doesn’t yet look prolific. It is too early to judge £9 million man Kelsy on his 20-minute debut, while Miovski hasn’t been nearly as strong at Rangers as he was at Aberdeen.

Now is the time for one of them to step up to the plate.

Emmanuel Fernandez played well for Rangers against Motherwell. | SNS Group

The better side of Fernandez

Rangers centre-half Emmanuel Fernandez has correctly been criticised for some of his haphazard play this season - but the Nigerian was excellent against Motherwell, completely dominating the defence.

He was also diligent with the ball at his feet, showing good concentration throughout and proving to be far steadier than he was against Falkirk, where he almost gifted the Bairns a goal.

An imposing, athletic figure, Fernandez has all the tools to be a very good player. This match was a reminder of how good he can be - and McInnes will want to see more of that. He is developing a good partnership with Olwethu Makhanya, who is already proving a shrewd summer signing.

Rangers midfielder Dan Neil was named man of the match. | SNS Group

Neil can be real midfield deal

Dan Neil returned to the midfield after a small niggle and played really well alongside Nicolas Raskin, deservedly winning the man-of-the-match award.

Neil showed a good range of passing, was positionally astute and started off counter attacks. Rangers looked a slicker operation for his presence.

McInnes was also impressed with Neil’s performance. “I thought Dan was strong,” said the manager. “I'm delighted that everybody's recognising that. I think it's probably his best performance since he came to the club.

“Motherwell wanted to dominate through the middle of the pitch and get their numbers through the middle, so there was a lot of organisation needed, also a lot of aggression needed to turn the ball over. And what I enjoyed even from my vantage point [in the stand] was I could hear Dan and Nico speaking, organising, and really driving the press, and I thought we turned the ball over so many times.

“And I think players get confidence from winning the ball, and then the things that they're good at come a bit more natural. So I do think for a midfielder like Dan or others, winning challenges, these are all really important parts of a midfielder's job.

“But then your natural game, how you look after the ball, your choice of passes, I thought in the main it was very clean today.”