race with a comfortable 3-0 win over Dundee at Ibrox
this afternoon - but it was a win that should have
been much more emphatic, given that the Light Blues
were two goals to the good inside the first three
minutes.
On a dreich day the size of the travelling Dens
support matched the weather - quite miserable for the
first Rangers fixture to kick off at 3pm on a Saturday
afternoon since 21 August.
Manager Alex McLeish made three changes from last
Sunday with Gregory Vignal, Dragan Mladenovic and
Shota Arveladze all returning from injury to replace
Jean-Alain Boumsong, Stephen Smith and Stephen Hughes.
Rangers almost struck in the opening seconds when Dado
Prso skied a long Marvin Andrews pass over the bar,
but the opening goal was merely delayed until the
second minute - coming from the penalty spot when
Nacho Novo was felled by Brent Sancho as he homed in
on a Gregory Vignal cross.
Novo himself did the necessary - and within sixty
seconds it was 2-0 when a superb Fernando Ricksen pass
found Novo free down the right, his cross being turned
home by Prso at the far post.
After such a whirlwind start it was perhaps inevitable
that the Ibrox men would ease off - and sure enough
Sancho might have reduced the deficit in seventeen
minutes when his header from a Steven Robb cross was
held by Stefan Klos.
Prso was denied at the other end ten minutes later
when, fastening onto a slide-rule Novo pass, he saw
his effort blocked by goalkeeper Derek Soutar.
Arveladze was looking very much the part on his return
- and almost capped it with a goal in 33 minutes when
his header from a Zurab Khizanishvili cross drifted
just wide.
Three minutes later Prso was again denied by Soutar -
this time twice in quick succession, his original shot
being blocked by the Dens goalkeeper and then his
header from Novo's cross being held.
Carelessness continued to haunt the home defence
however - illustrated when Fabian Caballero
dispossessed Vignal before squaring for Steve Lovell
whose effort was turned wide by Klos.
Rangers resumed play clearly stung by some words of
wisdom from the manager, and Bob Malcolm made it 3-0
in 49 minutes when he rifled home a left-foot shot
after his first effort from a Novo slip had been
blocked.
Six minutes later a superb piece of skill from
Khizanishvili created space for fellow Georgian
Arveladze whose shot found the side-net.
Marvin Andrews saw his header from a Dragan Mladenovic
cross held by Soutar in 64 minutes, then five minutes
later the visiting goalkeeper at full stretch turned
wide a Khizanishvili shot that had been deflected
towards the far corner of the net by Prso.
Stephen McNally came to his keeper's rescue on seventy
minutes when he cleared off the line from a Namouchi
header from a Ricksen corner, then immediately
afterwards at the other end it was Hamed clearing off
the line from substitute Glen Larsen's header off a
Garry Brady corner.
The linesman's flag denied Prso a fourth shortly
afterwards when he netted from a Khizanishvili cross,
but Mladenovic should certainly have capped a good
afternoon's work with a goal in 77 minutes, only to
fire over from a Novo cross following a long Andrews
pass.
Substitute Alex Rae had replaced Arveladze in 63
minutes - and created a chance for Novo in 85 minutes
that the little Spaniard sent just wide of the target.
Manager Alex McLeish afterwards reflected:
"We had a fantastic start, but allowed Dundee to come
back into the game. We were much sharper today, and
played a lot of good football. We brought three
players back today and now have great competition for
places."
Interestingly Dundee Boss Jim Duffy said of Dado Prso:
"He was outstanding. His play and work-rate was an
education for every single one of my players."
In the Scottish Cup draw, Rangers unbelievably
received their eighth successive away tie - at Celtic,
meaning that the Parkhead club have now been drawn at
home in seven successive Scottish Cup 'Old Firm'
meetings - the last at Ibrox being as long ago as
1964.
RANGERS Klos; Khizanishvili, Malcolm, Andrews, Vignal
(S. Smith 78); Ricksen, Mladenovic, Namouchi; Novo,
Prso, Arveladze (A. Rae 63)
UNUSED SUBS Robinson, Ball, McLean, Watson, Hutton
DUNDEE Soutar; McNally, Smith, Sancho, Hernandez;
Brady, Barrett, McDonald, Robb; Lovell (Credeira 76),
Caballero (Larsen 67)
UNUSED SUBS Murray, Sutton, Jablonski, Mann
REFEREE Mike McCurry
Attendance 48,114
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