Bowman braced for hostile reception at Ibrox

Ryan Bowman is confident he can brush off the inevitable hostility that awaits him at Ibrox and help Motherwell to another victory over Rangers.

Bowman inadvertently broke the nose of Rangers defender Fabio Cardoso with his elbow as he jumped for a high ball during Motherwell's Betfred Cup semi-final win over Rangers in October.

The unpunished incident was highlighted for days afterwards with Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers joining in the opprobrium as he referenced a challenge Bowman had made on Kieran Tierney last season.

The former Gateshead striker is steeled for a backlash when Motherwell face Rangers on Wednesday but he believes he can shut it out.

“I am obviously going to get a bit of stick,'' the 26-year-old told Press Association Sport. “It was the same at Celtic with the Tierney challenge, I was always going to get a bit of stick.

“But you can't mope about it, you can't think about it, or it will put you off your game. You have to try your best to forget about it as much as you can and just play your usual game.

“It doesn't really bother me. Once you are out on that pitch, the adrenaline is rushing through your body so you don't really take notice of what the crowd are saying.''

Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson jumped to Bowman's defence in the aftermath of the Hampden clash, pointing out his largely unblemished disciplinary record. A Hampden booking for an earlier challenge on Cardoso was the striker's first yellow card of the season and he has only been booked twice since.

Robinson urged Bowman to put the incident out of his mind and the Cumbrian forward believes he has done so.

“He has said that a few times, if you go into games and you think 'I'm not going to go up for this or win this header', it puts you off your game,'' he said.

“As a target man, that's one of your big strengths, winning headers and physicality. If that goes out your game then you might as well not play.''

Motherwell lost Chris Cadden and Elliott Frear to hamstring injuries against Dundee on Saturday but they held on for a 1-1 draw with 10 men to end a four-match losing streak, and Bowman insists they can get back to winning ways in Govan.

“Obviously Cads and Elliott are going to be a big miss,'' he said. “But it's an opportunity for boys to step up and maybe be the one to get the winning goal. They have lost their last two as well as so they are not on a great run, so we feel like we can go there and get three points.'

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