Barrie McKay admits Rangers formation in disarray during Motherwell draw
Barrie McKay admitted he had no idea how his Rangers side were lining up by the end of their draw with Motherwell.
Injury and illness wrecked manager Pedro Caixinha's tactics for the visit of Stephen Robinson's men.
With his side a goal down to Louis Moult's third-minute opener, the new Gers boss was forced to use up all three of his substitutions at half-time.
Skipper Lee Wallace had struggled through the opening 45 minutes with a stomach injury picked up on Scotland duty, while centre-half Clint Hill was suffering from a hamstring pull and Lee Hodson a fever.
All three were hooked at the break, with midfielder Jon Toral and substitute Andy Halliday forming a make-shift back three alongside Rob Kiernan. McKay and another of Caixinha's replacements Michael O'Halloran were asked to take on unfamiliar wing-back roles.
The Light Blues final substitute Joe Garner grabbed the 61st-minute equaliser which earned a 1-1 draw, but Gers were so wide open Motherwell really should have taken all three points.
Keeper Wes Foderingham had to bail out his team on three occasions and McKay admitted he had never sampled an afternoon like it.
The Scotland winger said: "I don't think I've been involved in a situation where we made three changes at the break. As footballers you have to be ready for these things and you just need to get on with it.
"We didn't really know what formation we were playing - we'd two central midfielders playing centre-half so it was obviously a change.
"First half we were a wee bit off the pace but second half I thought we did enough to get the win, we just couldn't get that second goal.
"First half our passing wasn't as crisp and their goal maybe set us back a little bit so early on. But we're all disappointed we didn't get the win."
The match was just Caixinha's second in charge but McKay reckons his new players will get to grips with his methods quickly.
"Over the couple of weeks the manager's implemented what he wants us to do," he said after the stalemate, which see Gers fall 10 points behind Aberdeen in the race for second. "I don't think there's too big a difference under him.
"He still wants us to get the ball down and play, though maybe he's worked a little bit more on defensive security as a team, everybody going forward and back together.
"He's not drastically changed too much."
Well remain in 10th place just a point ahead of Lanarkshire rivals Hamilton, who they host on Wednesday.
But Moult reckons his side will be able to put daylight between themselves and Accies if they replicate their Ibrox display.
"That has got to be the standard going forward," he said. "We've got a massive game on Wednesday and then again Saturday against Ross County.
"If we apply ourselves then we have got nothing to worry about."