Rangers dropped two crucial points in the League Championship race with a 2-2 draw against Dundee at Dens Park this afternoon, in an incredible game where Barry Ferguson missed not one but two penalties.
The destination of the League Flag has had many twists throughout this campaign, and the inescapable feeling at the end of this dramatic ninety minutes is that today’s dropped points will in the final analysis prove crucial.
There was the customary pathetic turnout from a home support who somehow have received 22,000 tickets for the Scottish Cup Final. Rangers – wearing all-white – made three changes from the side defeated by Celtic at Ibrox seven days ago with Kevin Muscat, Bob Malcolm and Mikel Arteta replacing Lorenzo Amoruso, Bert Konterman and Claudio Caniggia.
Yesterday’s emphatic Celtic win over Dunfermline Reserves had put even more pressure on the League Leaders, but the Ibrox men could scarcely have got off to a better start than to open the scoring in 39 seconds when Lee Wilkie, in turning an Arthur Numan cross into his own net, became the first Dundee player to touch the ball.
Three minutes later it should have been 2-0 when a Peter Lovenkrands – Ronald De Boer move found Barry Ferguson who shot weakly into the arms of goalkeeper Julian Speroni.
It was all Rangers at this juncture – Fernando Ricksen forced his way through in eight minutes, played a one-two with Michael Mols, then saw his drive deflected wide by Speroni’s legs. Speroni again defied the visitors when he held a twenty-five yard Arteta drive from a Lovenkrands pass in fifteen minutes, yet unbelievably sixty seconds later the scores were level when Steve Lovell and Beto Carranza combined to dispossess Craig Moore before passing to Fabian Caballero who found the net with a twenty-yard drive.
Rangers were denied a stonewall penalty in 21 minutes when Ricksen, clean through, had his heels clicked by Gavin Rae, but incredibly Referee John Rowbotham waved play on.
Six minutes later the roof fell in on Rangers when gross negligence on the part of the ‘Gers defence allowed Caballero to run half the length of the park before blasting home a 25 – yard drive. It all started when a Ricksen pass to Ferguson was intercepted and swiftly transferred to Caballero – incredibly despite the lesson of the first goal the Argentinian was allowed to advance unchallenged by both Malcolm and Moore who retreated oblivious to the obvious threat.
Rangers were in trouble, yet ten minutes later Ricksen should have equalised when he headed a Ferguson chip just over.
A dramatic first-half simmered over the top in the closing minutes. De Boer had a goal disallowed for offside when his header from a Lovenkrands cross found the corner of the net, then Rangers were awarded a penalty when Wilkie hauled Mols to the ground as he homed in on goal.
Ferguson alas struck the underside of the bar with his spot-kick, and the interval arrived with Rangers trailing.
The opening stages of the second-half were all Rangers – Ricksen’s wide-angled twenty-yard free-kick was touched over by Speroni in 51 minutes, then sixty seconds later Arteta’s drive was headed off the line by Georgi Nemsadze.
With the minutes ticking away, Manager Alex McLeish made a double substitution in 65 minutes, Claudio Caniggia and Shota Arveladze replacing Peter Lovenkrands and Ronald De Boer.
Five minutes later Lee Wilkie – very much the villain of the piece in the first-half – came to the Dark Blues’ rescue when he blocked a net-bound Ricksen drive after Moore headed Caniggia’s corner back across goal.
The desperation in the visitors’ ranks was obvious as the game entered its’ final stages, yet in 81 minutes another moment of madness by Wilkie presented Rangers with a second penalty when the Scotland defender barged Arveladze off the ball as the Georgian chased a long Ricksen through ball.
Unbelievably Ferguson – who had only missed one penalty in his senior career before today – saw his second spot-kick of the afternoon saved by Speroni.
The Ibrox Captain looked a broken man, yet staggeringly from the resultant corner Rangers were awarded a THIRD penalty for handball against Dave Mackay.
Two years ago the same fixture saw three penalties missed, but thankfully there was no repeat this time, Arteta blasting home the spot-kick to make it 2-2 with just seven minutes remaining.
Rangers poured forward in the dying minutes. With five minutes to go substitute Stephen Hughes’ drive from a Ferguson lay-off was held by Speroni, then sixty seconds later a Mols back-heel effort from Ricksen’s cross was only just wide of the target.
The final whistle however dealt a potentially fatal blow to Rangers’ title hopes, for somehow one can foresee Celtic winning their remaining games by the proverbial barrowload.
Alex McLeish was philosophical afterwards:
"I don’t know where to start. Barry showed bottle to take the second penalty, but Mikel wouldn’t let anyone else take the third – he has great technique. It’s been a terrific season – Rangers and Celtic now have to win every game. Celtic have a difficult game at Motherwell in midweek."
Dundee Manager Jim Duffy was honest enough to admit:
"We have no complaints – TV has confirmed that all three penalties were spot-on. It was one of those games. It was a magnificent game at this stage of the season. Both sets of players deserve credit."
DUNDEE Speroni; Mackay, Wilkie, Khizanishvili, Hernandez; Carranza (Milne 73), Smith, Nemsadze (Mair 89), Rae; Caballero, Lovell (Burchill 73)
UNUSED SUBS Langfield, Novo,
RANGERS Klos; Muscat (Hughes 79), Moore, Malcolm, Numan; Ricksen, Ferguson, Arteta, Lovenkrands (Caniggia 65); Mols, De Boer (Arveladze 65)
UNUSED SUBS McGregor, Konterman
REFEREE John Rowbotham