Motherwell 'dominated' Rangers and deserved more than defeat, insists boss Stuart Kettlewell

Motherwell boss Stuart Kettlewell says his side deserved more than a 1-0 defeat after a “dominant” display against Rangers at Ibrox.

Cyriel Dessers’ 24th-minute strike was enough to see Michael Beale’s side overtake Motherwell into third place, but Kettlewell says they didn’t get their just rewards for their performance, for a second week in a row, having also lost 1-0 at home to St Mirren.

Blair Spittal had two shots cleared off the line by James Tavernier and Connor Goldson in the final five minutes, though an offside flag went up as well at the 90th-minute chance.

And Kettlewell said: “I don’t think I’ll need to convince too many people that was the case within the game.

“I know I sound a wee bit like a broken record off the back of last week and how well we performed, but I thought we matched it again today.

“I’ve been involved in a lot of teams, as have the staff and players in there, but I don’t think I remember too many when you’re as dominant as we were in stages of the game.

“I’m not saying we were that for 90 minutes, but in stages of the game, where you’re carving out chances, pinning Rangers in.

“This isn’t a criticism from me – I don’t want people to take it that way – but when their goalkeeper gets booked for wasting time and they’re trying to take the ball into the corner, I’ve not really seen that much, here.

“I’ve seen a lot of games of football here and I’ve not seen that, much.

“I think that speaks volumes for our performance.”

Kettlewell added: “I hold my hands up yet again and say that we have created chances and not capitalised on it.

“That’s two weeks, I believe, that we’ve not got what we deserved, but I would be really concerned if my team wasn’t playing like that.”

Kettlewell said