Gers boss pleased with League Cup win

Rangers manager Mark Warburton praised his team's energy levels after they overcame a shaky start to beat Motherwell 2-0 in the Betfred Cup.

Motherwell had six good first-half chances but Rangers gradually began to turn their possession into opportunities and went ahead three minutes after the break when James Tavernier found the top corner from 16 yards.

Rangers remained on top, although Motherwell had several chances to level, and Martyn Waghorn curled home the clincher from 18 yards in injury time.

Warburton, who hopes to include Joe Dodoo against Annan on Tuesday if his move from Leicester is completed, said: I'll take 12 minutes of rustiness but I thought we dominated the game after the 15th minute and, in truth, we should have been further ahead.

Considering it was our first competitive game, we lost out on a few one v ones and gave the ball away cheaply early on but after that it was a very pleasing afternoon's work.

I thought our energy levels were really good and you must remember that most of our players have only had 45 minutes' game time against Charleston Battery.But we dominated possession, created chances and looked sharp. I'm really pleased.

I'll look at the game again because we could have been one or two down at the start and we should have stopped their chances.

But then we took care of the football and won the one v ones, got tighter in key areas and, from the 15th to the 90th minute, there was only one team in it.''

Motherwell manager Mark McGhee bemoaned his side's missed chances, with Marvin Johnson, Lionel Ainsworth, Scott McDonald and Chris Cadden all coming close before the break.

As far as we are concerned we made enough chances to at least get to penalty-kicks,'' he said.Rangers play different to us, they have a lot more possession, but we know that and we were comfortable with that. In between them having possession, we made the best chances but didn't take them. And I think that reflects the fact that it's only two weeks into pre-season training and people like Marvin and Scott McDonald will get sharper.''

Louis Moult missed a good headed chance after coming off the bench but he is now set for a lay-off until September.

Louis is going to have minor surgery,'' McGhee said.He will miss the first three games of the season and should be ready after the international break.''

Meanwhile, Warburton was baffled by referee Steven McLean's failure to punish Motherwell goalkeeper Craig Samson after he stopped Waghorn's shot with his arm outside the box with the score at 1-0

I can't think of a more blatant one,'' Warburton said.What can you say? I would pull my hair out in frustration if I had any.''

McGhee could see the funny side after the reprieve. It was a good save,'' he said.The best save he made all game.''