Motherwell midfielder Andy Halliday has confessed that seeing Rangers make significant changes to their lineup before Sunday’s 2-2 draw at Fir Park gave his team a surge of confidence.
With a crucial Old Firm match against Celtic on the horizon next week, Rangers manager Philippe Clement chose to rest several key players from the starting XI that lost to St Mirren three days' prior.
Among those left on the bench were standout talents Vaclav Cerny and Hamza Igamane, decisions that Clement claimed were because of "sports science".
That backfired as Rangers were stunned by their hosts and went into the interval two goals behind.
Igamane made a notable impact after entering the game at half-time alongside Cerny, scoring twice to secure a point for Rangers.
Halliday, who was instrumental throughout the final clash of 2024 and earned the man of the match accolade, reflected on Clement's tactical decisions and how they played a role in Motherwell's dynamic and effective first-half display.
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"I'd be lying if I didn't say that from seeing the starting XI before the game and seeing no Cerny and no Igamane that it didn't give us a little bit of a boost," the former Rangers favourite told Clyde 1 Superscoreboard.
"At the end of the day that was their best two players left out [vs Motherwell] along with Nicolas Raskin [vs St Mirren] over the last few weeks.
"Raskin was another one who fell short with the sport scientist rules or maybe the old debate that if he got a booking he would miss the Old Firm.
"I just don't think Rangers are in a position to make these changes because last week we were talking about potentially beating Celtic on January 2, going six points behind and potentially getting the title race back on.
"But the big part of that was beating St Mirren and ourselves yesterday, and they are now in a position where they could be 17 points behind Celtic."
