Dundee 0-2 Rangers (Novo 2 {78, 80)
Attendance 9,404
The goals ended a barren spell of 348 minutes in which the Ibrox men had failed to score an away League goal.
The other side of the coin however was that Rangers
had not lost to Dundee since March 2001 (0-2 at Ibrox)
and indeed had not suffered defeat at Dens Park for
all of twelve years (a memorable seven-goal thriller
that the home side won 4-3). The Ibrox men however had
won just three away League fixtures out of twelve
played during 2004 prior to today’s visit to the ‘City
of Discovery.’
There was a surprise team selection for the travelling
‘Gers support (who accounted for more than half of the
9,404 crowd, filling two stands and with a presence in
a third) with Marvin Andrews and Stephen Hughes
replacing Craig Moore and Gregory Vignal against a
Dark Blue line–up that had Larsen and Sutton up front
– that is Glen and John (brother of Celtic’s Chris).
Of the many former Dens players at Ibrox, only Zurab
Khizanishvili played from the start, although Nacho
Novo was a substitute.
Play swung from end-to-end in the opening minutes, but
there were precious few clear-cut chances. Rangers,
wearing red, should however have opened the scoring in
nineteen minutes when Steven Thompson, through on a
Paulo Vanoli pass, squared for Shota Arveladze who had
two efforts blocked before Chris Burke laid the ball
into the path of Fernando Ricksen only for his shot to
also be charged down and cleared.
The home side were full of running against the
makeshift Light Blue defence – Iain Anderson testing
Stefan Klos with a 25-yard shot that the goalkeeper
held in 27 minutes.
Rangers had the bulk of the pressure however – Hughes
firing wide from the edge of the box from a Burke pass
in 33 minutes.
Two minutes later Burke himself was inches away with a
curling left-foot effort from 22 yards, then
immediately afterwards Bob Malcolm’s 25-yard
piledriver from Arveladze’s lay-off was spilled by
home goalkeeper Derek Soutar, only for the danger to
be mopped up yet again.
There was however an uncertainty about the visitors’
defence, highlighted in 37 minutes when Zurab
Khizanishvili’s slack pass enabled Anderson to feed
Glen Larsen whose shot from eighteen yards struck the
outside of the post.
Two minutes later Malcolm almost sliced a Callum
MacDonald cross into his own net only for Klos to save
the day.
Steven Thompson had been the most effective Ranger,
and from his 42nd minute cross Stephen Hughes headed
just wide of the post.
The half however ended goalless, and unimpressive, yet
when Manager Alex McLeish made an interval
substitution it was a straight replacement of Gregory
Vignal for Paulo Vanoli.
The restart was sluggish to say the least, with both
sides desperately looking in vain for some
inspiration.
Peter Lovenkrands replaced Stephen Hughes in 58
minutes in an effort to inject some pace up front.
Five minutes later Ricksen’s drive from a Burke corner
was blocked by a home defence that was rock solid, but
the turning point of the match arrived in 65 minutes
when Nacho Novo replaced Arveladze to a crescendo of
boos from the Dens faithful, overlooking the blunt
fact that it was the Spaniard’s transfer that enabled
their club to survive.
It was in the script that Novo would make an impact,
and sure enough it was he who broke the deadlock in 78
minutes when Vignal’s cross to the far post was nodded
back across the face of goal by Burke enabling Novo to
sweep the ball home with his right foot.
Two minutes later it was 2-0 when Novo again rifled
home a Burke cross – this time with his left foot.
The game was won, and the relief amongst the visiting
team and supporters was tangible.
In the dying seconds a mistake by Marvin Andrews, who
had otherwise played well, allowed Sutton to send a
twenty-yard shot flashing just wide.
Alex McLeish afterwards reflected:
“I felt we needed a spark to get a goal. The pace of
Lovenkrands and Novo made a difference against a
tiring defence. We dominated the first-half, but
Dundee regrouped after the interval. It was crucial
that we won before Maritimo.”
That game next Thursday will obviously have a pivotal
effect on the campaign ahead for Rangers.
DUNDEE Soutar; MacDonald, Sancho, Mann, Hernandez;
Barrett (Brady 84), Smith, Fotheringham; Anderson;
Larsen, Sutton
UNUSED Jack, Hutchinson, McNally, Hegarty
RANGERS Klos; Khizanishvili, Boumsong, Andrews, Vanoli
(Vignal 45); Burke, Ricksen, Malcolm, Hughes
(Lovenkrands 58); Thompson, Arveladze (Novo 65)
UNUSED SUBS G. Smith, McLean, Davidson, McCormack
REFEREE Stuart Dougal