DEREK McInnes praised a strong performance from his team as they defeated Motherwell 1-0 in the Scottish Premiership this afternoon.
There was a blow for Gers early on as captain Lawrence Shankland was forced off with injury inside the opening 10 minutes, but substitute Ryan Naderi came on to net the winner in the third league victory in a row.
Speaking to RangersTV at full-time McInnes said: “I think the only wee gripe, other than the injury to Lawrence, was the fact we didn't put the game to bed early. While it is 1-0, the opposition will still have a belief that they can get something from it.
“On the back of that, we created some great moments for ourselves. I was really pleased with our attacking threat; we just needed to get the job finished a bit better in some of those moments.
“On another day it might come back to bite us, and that is something we can't be totally pleased with today, but today one goal was enough; the clean sheet and the performance on the main was very strong.”
McInnes provided an update on Shankland’s injury, saying it initially looks like a serious one for the captain. He said: “It is a hamstring injury; it is an injury he has had previously at Hearts last January when he was out for three months. Hopefully it is not as bad as that, but certainly it is in a similar area.
“We have a strength of squad we can lean on, and hopefully Lawrence gets some good news on his scan, but it is a shame for him because he is just starting to hit the ground running with a few good goals, but we need to deal with injuries to key players, and it looks like we are going to be without him.”
McInnes was impressed by Naderi, who scored in the 12th minute, just minutes after his introduction. He continued: “He looked ready. Ryan is a brilliant presser of the ball and he always, even when he is not at his best, always makes it difficult for centre backs.
“I always feel as though that is his first port of call; what he has to do is just, at times, be a bit cleaner and get that confidence into his game and getting the goal quite early on, I thought, helped his overall performance.
“If he wasn't ready to start the game, he certainly would've been at risk putting him on after five minutes. We took our time to introduce him at the right time, and Naderi answered up brilliantly, and I'm so pleased for him. He has got a few goals this season now, and that will do him the world of good.”
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