Rangers news: Steven Gerrard admits ‘we blew it’ as Gers concede stoppage-time equaliser

The Gers boss was gutted as controversial Well skipper Peter Hartley netted a stoppage-time equaliser in a 3-3 thriller.

It was the second goal Gers shipped from a set-piece in the game with Connor Goldson slipping for the other in a match that had everything.

Seconds before the leveller, Gerrard replaced Ovie Ejaria with Lee Wallace for his first outing since last September.

Wallace’s appearance seemed to disrupt the defence with players swapping marking roles just before Hartley’s equaliser from Gael Bigirimana’s corner.

Gerrard was shattered at the loss of two points and says everyone, including himself, has to look at the situation. He said: “They had four or five big units on there and I have a defender sitting behind me who is 6ft 3in and, with all due respect to Ovie – and he was good today – Lee Wallace is a lot better at defending set-pieces.

“If I’ve got it wrong, I’ll take the blame, no problem.

“We have got ourselves to blame and shot ourselves in the foot in terms of defending set-plays.

“You can’t give teams gifts like that, otherwise it becomes very difficult.

“I’m bitterly disappointed with the timing of the equaliser.

“It hurts that little bit more when it comes that late. We were a set-piece away from taking maximum points against tough opposition.

“We defended very well to their style in open play for the majority of the game. But we haven’t defended anywhere near well enough on set-plays.

“We got off to a bad start but showed really good character and some really good football to get back in the game. We’ve got work to do.”

Rangers are now four points behind early pace-setters Hearts with two draws and a win from their opening Premiership games.

And Gerrard is looking for a response as he prepares for a massive week which will see Rangers face FC Ufa in Thursday’s Europa League play-off and then travel back to Glasgow for Sunday’s Old Firm derby at Parkhead.

After knocking down transfer links with Sporting Lisbon’s Ryan Gauld and Swansea’s Nathan Dyer, he said: “We can’t feel sorry for ourselves.

“We’ve got two really big games coming up and it’s my job to make sure we don’t have a hangover from dropping two points.”

Gers midfielder Andy Halliday agreed that a normally water-tight defence sprung a leak at a sodden Fir Park.

He said: “The goals we conceded were very poor. You can see the improvement we have made defensively this season but we showed some bad habits today.

“If you lose goals like those two from set-pieces, you are never going to win games of football.

“It just shows you need to turn up in every game and defend as a unit. It’s not just the back four, it’s the full team.”