United at Ibrox this evening - a result that may well
cost the Light Blues the Championship.
Incredibly the Tannadice men have now taken seven
points off Rangers this season and indeed are unbeaten
in five successive League fixtures against the Ibrox
men.
The story of tonight's match however was one of an
incredible catalogue of missed chances by the home
side, at least two of which defied belief.
Manager Alex McLeish made one change from Motherwell
with Maurice Ross replacing the suspended Barry
Ferguson against a United side containing two
ex-Rangers players, namely Paul Ritchie and Barry
Robson.
Referee tonight was a certain Iain Brines, the subject
of much tabloid headlines this week.
There was a sparse turnout of visiting fans despite
Saturday's Hampden success - but they had plenty to
cheer about in six minutes when Stuart Duff headed
home the opening goal from a Jim McIntyre cross -
Ronald Waterreus blocking the first effort, but the
United midfielder finding the net with his second
effort.
The near-capacity 49,302 attendance were stunned - but
should have had plenty to cheer about nine minutes
later when Nacho Novo fired over an open goal from a
Dado Prso cutback.
If that miss was bad enough, worse - much worse - was
to follow three minutes later when Prso somehow put
the ball wide from point-blank range after Novo and
Hamed Namouchi had split the opposition defence wide
open. It was a miss of Peter Van Vossen proportions -
or for older fans Willie Johnston, 1971 Scottish Cup
Final.
Rangers were temporarily reduced to nine men in 28
minutes when Sotirios Kyrgiakos collided with
Namouchi, both players requiring treatment. The
midfielder returned almost immediately, but the Greek
defender was absent for fully five minutes.
Four minutes later Novo's drive from a Fernando
Ricksen corner was blocked on the line, but the little
Spaniard should certainly have levelled matters in 41
minutes when, clean through on a Namouchi pass, he
shot straight at United goalkeeper Tony Bullock.
Rangers restarted very much on the offensive, and
within sixty seconds Prso saw his shot from a Novo
pass held by Bullock.
The goalkeeper again kept his side in front in 47
minutes when, at full stretch, he deflected a Novo
shot over the bar following forceful play by Prso.
Rangers were pushing forward all the time, leaving
themselves vulnerable to the counter-attack, and when
Bob Malcolm and Kyrgiakos somehow got entangled with
each other McIntyre almost capitalised with a hook
shot that struck the top of the crossbar in 50
minutes.
Tannadice Captain Ritchie rescued his side six minutes
later when he headed off the line after an Alex Rae
cross had been directed goalwards by Prso's head.
Another goalden opportunity was spurned in 63 minutes
when Kyrgiakos, unmarked inside the six-yard box,
directed his header straight at Bullock after
substitute Shota Arveladze had headed across the face
of goal.
The pressure was intense - Rae seeing his 75th minute
shot from a Novo pass deflected wide of the target,
then two minutes later Novo's shot from a Maurice Ross
cross was spilled by Bullock - but with no-one close
enough to capitalise the goalkeeper recovered, and was
in the right place to deny substitute Peter
Lovenkrands in 80 minutes when his turn and shot from
a Ross pass was blocked by the goalkeeper's legs.
Sixty seconds later Arveladze somehow headed over from
right under the crossbar after a Novo cross had been
headed back across goal by Prso. It was a miss every
bit as bad as Prso's in the first-half, and it was all
too evident that this was not Rangers' night.
Substitute Steven Thompson was the next to test
Bullock in 84 minutes with an overhead kick from a
Novo cross.
The goalkeeper was equal to that - and again three
minutes later when he blocked Prso's vicious shot on
the turn.
Bullock without doubt had been the man of the match -
as underlined when he produced a magnificent 88th
minute save, touching over an 18-yard left-foot volley
from Kyrgiakos following a Ricksen corner.
The final whistle brought a crescendo of booing from
the Light Blue legions, and a potentially fatal blow
had been suffered in the title race.
Afterwards Alex McLeish summarised:
"The gods didn't smile on us. We made enough chances
to win two games. Slip-ups can happen - we'll bounce
back. I don't know how anyone can say my players
didn't play well."
Try telling 49,302 spectators that, Alex.
RANGERS Waterreus; Ross, Malcolm (Thompson 79),
Kyrgiakos, Ball; Namouchi (Arveladze 56), Ricksen, A.
Rae, Vignal (Lovenkrands 62); Prso, Novo
UNUSED SUBS McGregor, Khizanishvili, Burke, McCormack
DUNDEE UNITED Bullock; Wilson, Ritchie, Kenneth,
Archibald; Samuel (Crawford 64), Brebner, Duff, Kerr,
Robson; McIntyre (Grady 90)
UNUSED SUBS Colgan, Dodds, Scotland, Callaghan,
Robertson
REFEREE Iain Brines
Attendance 49,302