GRAHAM ALEXANDER  was left frustrated by the time taken for Motherwell’s cinch Premiership clash with Rangers to be brought forward a day.

The Fir Park fixture was switched from Sunday to Saturday to give the Ibrox men additional recovery time ahead of the first leg of their Europa League semi-final against RB Leipzig in Germany on April 28.

Alexander believes it was a sensible decision but would have liked it made quicker as he and his squad, “had to prepare as if we were playing on both days which was difficult”.

He added: “The delay in the decision is the thing that frustrates me and us at Motherwell.

“Our first communication was last Friday morning and we understood all the opinions of Rangers, the league, the police, this, that and the other and we said if it was for the benefit for everyone we could go with it.

“But we wanted a decision so we could organise our training week differently because obviously it was all geared up for a Sunday game.

“We didn’t find out that it was going to be a Saturday game until late afternoon on Tuesday which is not good really to be fair.

“We still trained but to take that long – I know there is different factors and we have to understand all the different issues around changing a fixture – but I don’t think it should take four or five days to do that.

“So apart from that I think it is the right thing to do.

“There are bigger problems to overcome but I just felt we were left to the side, it was like it was all geared for other people apart from us.”

Motherwell made the top six with a dramatic 2-2 comeback draw at Livingston in their final pre-split game.

The Steelmen are sixth on 40 points, behind Ross County on goal difference and one point behind Dundee United, but Alexander is putting no pressure on his players in the five post-split games despite European places being up for grabs.

He said: “The players deserve massive credit for finishing in the top six.

“Everyone knows what the potential of finishing fourth or fifth brings but we haven’t really spoken about that because I don’t think there should be massive pressure on us to go and do that.

“It is there, it is an opportunity and I know my players well enough that if there is an opportunity to do something they will do their best to take it but it won’t dictate if our season has been a success or not, it already has been a success.”