Steven Gerrard hailed his Rangers players for passing their test of character to soar a sweet 16 points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership.
The Light Blues were forced to come from behind after conceding an early goal against Motherwell at Ibrox and Kemar Roofe ’s double either side of substitute Cedric Itten’s goal made it 10 league wins on the spin.
Gerrard was delighted at the way his team bounced back from the midweek Betfred Cup KO to St Mirren to open up a massive gap over rivals and champions Celtic who now have three games in hand.
And after overcoming a stuffy Steelmen - who shaped up in a 5-5-0 formation - who took a sixth minute lead through Callum Lang, the Gers boss said: “This was a big test for us today and we’ve passed it with flying colours.
“It’s a big three points for us, especially on the back of a tough few days mentally. We’ve been on a tremendous run, we suffered a bump that stung and from there it was all about getting back on track today.
“We found a response and a reaction. I thought the players were excellent. For large parts of the game we showed real character and we are going to need that moving forward.
“It’s not always going to be comfortable and people are going to ask us questions. When you’re playing against the low block it’s tough enough, even more so when you give away a sloppy goal.
“But we have an honest group of lads here and they are giving me everything. There were moments there when you think, ‘is it going to come?’
“ Motherwell were defending well. They were getting blocks in, heading it away. Nerves were playing a part so to turn it around the way we did was hugely satisfying.
“We were up against a five and a five which was a new experience so that’s something we will have to look into. We never defended their goal well enough.
“We should win the first header, we give a silly throw-in away and then we turn our backs on it. The player then had a free run at the back post and you can’t defend like that at the top level,
“What I will say is that our reaction to going a goal down was really pleasing. I thought we remained calm, we showed bravery and a persistence to keep going.
“We knew it would come at the end if we kept making chances. The application was there, we just needed the players to do their own individual roles better.They were doing okay, but okay is not good enough when you are a goal down.”
Gerrard admitted his substitutions helped turn the game with Joe Aribo, Ianis Hagi and Itten all coming off the bench. He said: “We needed the players to be better at what they were doing and that’s why I thought the subs were massive for me today.
“They helped us win the game because they all had a big impact. But even at 1-0 down there wasn’t a lot wrong. We had all the ball, we were asking all the questions.
“It was about staying patient and waiting on that one lapse in concentration from Motherwell. When it came we were able to respond. When we got ourselves level you could see the mentality change.
“What they were hanging onto changes and we got the second goal at the right time through big Cedric. Kemar killed it off.”
Motherwell boss Stephen Robinson was gutted that his effective game plan was killed by individual errors. He said: “It’s tough to take, for 72 minutes the game plan is brilliant, we get ourselves in front and the boys carried out what we wanted to the letter.
“Ultimately we’re playing against a very good side and we made three very poor decisions and got punished for them. The boys gave everything but the decision making in the box for the goals wasn’t good enough.
“I thought the system worked well and the players threw their bodies on the line to defend the box as best they could. And it gave us a lifeline going ahead.
“The plan was to sit back and let Rangers have the ball in areas they weren’t going to hurt us and then try to hit them on the break.
“What this does is give me hope - we’re on a sticky run but there are boys fighting for the cause and I’m confident we’ll pick up results in the coming weeks against teams with a lot less to offer than Rangers.”
