Philippe Clement says fight-back win over Motherwell can be 'massive game' in Rangers season

Rangers manager Philippe Clement wants his side’s comeback win over Motherwell at Hampden to be “a massive game” in their season.

Clement saw his side bounce back from a goal down to win 2-1 in the Premier Sports Cup semi-final and set up a clash with Celtic next month for the first silverware of the season.

Andy Halliday had silenced the Rangers support when he put Motherwell ahead in the first half but Cyriel Dessers equalised after the break and Nedim Bajrami scored the goal that put the holders in the final.

Celemtn said that the team had achieved their main objective and could now dream of repeating last season’s trophy success.

“We can go where we want to be,” he said. “We can go to this final where we had this amazing feeling with the fans last season.

“We can battle for that again.

“That was the aim of today and it’s also a well-deserved victory.”

The Belgian has been under pressure after a tough start to the season, with Wednesday’s defeat to Aberdeen leaving them nine points behind the top two in the Premiership. He wants his players to take the mentality behind the cup win as “a reference” for the challenges to come and believes the experience could be “massive” for the team between now and the end of the season as they look to improve their form.

He said: “It’s probably the worst scenario that you can have, starting the game well, creating chances and then on the first dangerous ball into the box you concede a goal.

“But this needs to be a reference game for this new squad. To do what we’ve been doing a lot last season, which is to dig in. To keep our belief, to keep on going, to keep on fighting and to break the wall down if we go behind.

“This can be a massive game at the end of the season, to have this one as a reference.

“I want to see this mentality every three days. It’s what we’ve been talking about but talking is not enough, you have to do it on the pitch.”

Rangers were much improved in the second half but Clement said he hadn’t read the riot act, noting that the players seemed “really nervous”. He applauded their mentality but also their ability to show their quality and score two “collective” goals.

“I was calm because I felt that the team was really nervous in half-time and they needed the confidence also what they did well but also to push to get this 10-15% more to get the win today,” he said. “It was important to get that.

“That’s what they showed in the second half. A lot of mentality but a lot of quality also.

“You always need to find that balance. If it’s only mentality and you’re only fighting and you don’t play good football, we will not reach our goals also.

“So we need to have this subtle balance between the two. That’s what they showed in the second half.

“Players stood up. We scored two really good goals. Collective goals, not individual goals.

“That will create a lot of belief for the next couple of months.”