Motherwell put in a dogged showing at league leaders Rangers, but ultimately lost out in Glasgow.
A double from Kemar Roofe, sandwiching a strike from Cedric Itten, saw the hosts recover from going behind to Callum Lang’s early strike.
Manager Stephen Robinson reverted to a 3-5-2 formation to try and absorb the pressure from a Rangers side who saw a 27-game unbeaten run ended in midweek at St Mirren.
The injured Christopher Long dropped out, with Barry Maguire moving to bench. Ricki Lamie came into defence, with Robbie Crawford added to the midfield.
The Steelmen knew they would be in for an afternoon of having to defend but the urgency to do so increased tenfold with just five minutes on the clock.
O’Donnell’s long throw landed back at him on the right side with five minutes on the clock. Sweeping in an exceptional low, driven ball, Lang was on hand at the back post to steer in the ball to give the visitors the lead.
O’Hara and Watt had chances soon after but the majority of the first half was spent with Rangers in possession – but ultimately ‘Well would get in at the break a goal ahead after repelling everything which came their way.
That defensive showing continued to hold up in the second period, as Rangers worked the ball from side to side but without making penetrative passes to seriously trouble Jordan Archer in the ‘Well goal.
The resistance, however, did eventually break. With 73 minutes played, a ball into the box wasn’t cleared and Roofe got the break of the ball to hammer home the equaliser.
Nine minutes later, Rangers had the lead. Tavernier’s corner from the right sailed through the front pack of bodies to the back post, where Itten was on hand to head in.
Devante Cole, Sherwin Seedorf and Liam Polworth were introduced to try and open the game up and grab back an equaliser for Motherwell, but a further failure to clear their lines saw Roofe snatch a third deep into stoppage time.