Rangers put their recent troubles behind them to
overwhelm Dundee 4-0 at Ibrox this afternoon, thus
securing their highest League win for six months on an
afternoon when the power and pace of the home side
gave the near-capacity crowd a lot to be happy about.
Manager Alex McLeish fielded three alterations from
Tynecastle last week with Allan Hutton (making just
his second start), Zurab Khizanishvili and Steven
Thompson replacing the suspended Fernando Ricksen,
Maurice Ross, and the injured Henning Berg.
Dundee – desperately unlucky to lose to Celtic in
midweek – fielded Nacho Novo, the subject of much
transfer speculation in recent months.
The game kicked off in dreadful weather conditions
with a paltry travelling support – and Michael Ball
almost made their suffering even more acute with a
25-yard drive that whistled just wide of an upright in
three minutes.
That man Novo was presented with a golden opportunity
to open the scoring six minutes later, being sent
clean through on a Brent Sancho pass, yet having
outwitted both Craig Moore and Stefan Klos he sent his
shot wide of the target.
Rangers were making all the running however – Peter
Lovenkrands stabbed a Gavin Rae chip just wide in
sixteen minutes, then two minutes later Tom Hutchinson
almost gifted Rangers the opening goal when his
passback nearly caught out Dens’ goalkeeper Julian
Speroni.
Speroni – in outstanding form this season – denied
Lovenkrands in twenty minutes after the Dane had
directed a Ronald De Boer chip goalwards, tipping the
header over the bar.
That opening had been created by an exquisite piece of
skill by the Dutchman, who had twisted and turned wide
on the left to create the opening, but as luck would
have it that would be his final contribution to the
proceedings, being replaced by Michael Mols soon
afterwards, apparently suffering from a broken nose
following a clash with Hutchinson.
Speroni again kept the scoresheet blank on the
half-hour when he produced a superlative save from a
Thompson header off a Hutton cross.
There was a bizarre and baffling incident three
minutes later when with both Lee Mair and Tom
Hutchinson receiving treatment OFF the park, Referee
Alan Freeland stopped play until they were ready to
resume.
Rangers were turning the screw as the interval
approached, Gavin Rae seeing his shot cleared off the
line by David Mackay in 39 minutes, and then from the
resultant Michael Ball corner Steven Robb scooped a
Thompson header off the line.
The opening goal was delayed a mere sixty seconds
however – but when it arrived it was enmeshed in
controversy as a Ball cross deflected by Hutchinson
was headed on by Craig Moore and nodded down by Frank
De Boer for Peter Lovenkrands who rifled the ball home
– all with the lineman holding his flag aloft.
To his credit the Aberdonian Referee, after consulting
his assistant, awarded a goal.
Rangers suffered a further injury blow at half-time,
Craig Moore being substituted by Bob Malcolm.
That loss was soon cushioned however by a Frank De
Boer 25-yard free-kick one minute after the restart
for Rangers’ second goal.
The Light Blues were relaxed now, playing some superb
football with De Boer building from the back and
Hutton impressing on his home debut.
Bob Malcolm might have added a third in 50 minutes
with a free header from a Michael Ball corner only to
direct his effort wide of the target, then seconds
later Stephen Hughes rifled a 22-yard drive wide.
Chris Burke was accorded a warm welcome when he
replaced Peter Lovenkrands in 67 minutes, as a result
of which Rangers had six Scots on the field, and the
young winger almost made an immediate impact when his
cross found Malcolm whose thundering thirty-yard
screamer was not that far away.
It was all Rangers now – Ball playing a one-two with
Hughes only to see his powerful left-foot drive beaten
out by Speroni, then four minutes later Burke’s mazy
run and chip was inches away.
Michael Ball was having his finest game for some time
– one move down the left involving Michael Mols found
Thompson unmarked in the middle only for Sancho to
block his close range effort.
The third goal could not be denied forever – and Gavin
Rae it was who scored his first goal for the club in
eighty minutes when he seized on a headed clearance on
the edge of the box, switched from right foot to left,
then found the net with a powerful drive.
Sixty seconds later it was 4-0 when a Hutton cross,
flicked on by Mols, found Thompson who swept the ball
home.
Rangers were rampant now – and it might have been 5-0
in 83 minutes when Mols struck the underside of the
bar from a Thompson cross.
Nevertheless the Light Blue legions were more than
satisfied with a 4-0 win, and afterwards Alex McLeish
summarised:
“It was good to score four goals. We finished the game
well. It meant a lot to Gavin Rae and Steven Thompson
to score. I tried to blood some of the youngsters, and
it was good to see Allan Hutton do so well. Michael
Ball played as good a game as I’ve seen from him.”
He also revealed that Craig Moore had suffered a knee
injury.
RANGERS Klos; Hutton, Moore (Malcolm 45), F. De Boer,
Ball; Khizanishvili, Rae, Hughes, Lovenkrands (Burke
67); Thompson, R. De Boer (Mols 25)
UNUSED SUBS McGregor, Vanoli
DUNDEE Speroni; Mackay, Mair, Hutchinson, Hernandez;
Sancho, Barrett (Brady 52), Fotheringham, Robb;
Kneissl (Milne 65), Novo
UNUSED SUBS Soutar, Lovell, Cameron
REFEREE Alan Freeland