Rangers draw piles pressure on Martin, Celtic strike late | The Express Tribune

LONDON:

Rangers dropped more points in the Scottish Premiership as a 1-1 draw at lowly Falkirk on Sunday piled more pressure on beleaguered manager Russell Martin, while Celtic grabbed a dramatic win over Motherwell.

Martin has managed just one win from his first seven league games in charge.

Rangers fans sat down in an attempt to stop their team bus from leaving the ground after the match but were dispersed by police.

Images showed that Martin was escorted by security guards out of a different part of the stadium.

“It’s really difficult when you ask this question, because it’s not in my control,” said Martin on his future.

“What I can control is we need to win more football matches and we need to work harder to do that.”

Former Southampton boss Martin has endured a nightmare start at Ibrox since being appointed in the close-season.

The Glasgow giants were also knocked out of Champions League qualifying with a humiliating 9-1 aggregate drubbing by Club Brugge, before losing their first two Europa League games.

“This club is intensified and the scrutiny is much higher, the noise is much louder,” Martin admitted.

“So every draw we’ve had has felt like a defeat because of the stature of this club and what it means and what we have to try and fight for.”

Bojan Miovski had put Rangers in front at newly-promoted Falkirk.

But the visitors were lucky to escape with a point in the end.

Henry Cartwright smashed in an equaliser 17 minutes from time and only a Jack Butland save from Brian Graham denied Falkirk a first home win back in the top flight.

Celtic close on leaders Hearts

A 3-2 victory for Scottish champions Celtic cut Hearts’ lead at the top of the table to two points, while Rangers are 11 points off the top down in eighth.

Motherwell, who began the day unbeaten in the league, were on course for a rare win at Celtic Park until 21 minutes from time.

Kelechi Iheanacho’s penalty had given Brendan Rodgers’s men an early lead.

Scoring goals has been Celtic’s problem during a troubled start to the campaign, but they conceded for the first time at home in the league when Apostolos Stamatelopoulos stooped to head in just before half-time.

Stamatelopoulos’s penalty early in the second period put the visitors on course for their first win at Parkhead in over a decade.

Motherwell, though, were the architects of their own downfall when goalkeeper Calum Ward passed straight to Benjamin Nygren, who slammed home the equaliser.

Daizen Maeda then met Michel-Ange Balikwisha’s cross with a diving header to snatch all three points in the 92nd minute and open up a nine-point lead on Rangers.

“We showed a real strong mentality today and real competitive grit,” said Rodgers.

“Even though we’re not at our levels we’ve shown in the past, you still have to win.”

Aberdeen remain bottom of the table but managed their first win and goals of the season in a 4-0 rout of Dundee.