Cup fightback needs to be ‘reference game’ for Rangers – Clement

If Rangers manager Philippe Clement did not understand the pressure he was under going into the League Cup semi-final against Motherwell, he did at half-time.

The boos from the Rangers fans at Hampden were deafening as they went into the break a goal behind following a first-half display that started with promise but fizzled out after Andy Halliday scored past Jack Butland.

It could be argued a defeat would have spelled the end for Clement, whose side trail Celtic and Aberdeen by nine points after just 10 Premiership games.

It was an interval in which truths needed to be spoken, and failings fixed.

“We started the game well, and I felt some nervousness, some doubts in half-time because we conceded the goal,” Clement said post-match.

“We spoke about what went well, and to raise our tempo and our level in the second half to break the wall. That’s what they did.”

Goalkeeper Butland – who took the captain’s armband after James Tavernier was substituted – was keen to stress the collective nature of the half-time debrief.

“A lot of people spoke,” he said. “There’s a real desire to change things and do better.

“At this club we can’t give up. We need to keep pushing standards and making sure when we have disappointments, we bounce back.”

Bounce back they did after the interval as Cyriel Dessers’ 49th-minute equaliser swung the momentum Rangers’ way before Nedim Bajrami’s winner.

They dominated possession, pinned Motherwell in and would have scored more were it not for goalkeeper Aston Oxborough.

“Let’s give Clement a little bit of credit,” former Scotland winger Pat Nevin said on Sportsound.

“It wasn’t going well in the first half. The manager must have said something, because they looked more considered after the break.”