Rangers 3 (De Boer 11, Arveladze 66, Lovenkrands 87) Dundee 0
Attendance 47,044
Rangers secured their first League win of the new campaign with a 3-0 win over Dundee at Ibrox today – a win that in the end was comfortable but which took a long time to wrap up.
The kick-off was delayed for fully fifty minutes due to a computer failure at the turnstiles, but when the teams did appear there were two changes from the opening game at Kilmarnock with Kevin Muscat and Tore Andre Flo replacing Neil McCann and Peter Lovenkrands in a home side adorning the new orange change strip.
The 47,044 spectators remained patient throughout the long delay, and not even the news that Celtic were two up at Aberdeen could dishearten them.
Rangers started confidently – in five minutes a superb Barry Ferguson pass released Fernando Ricksen wide on the right, a square ball to Ronald De Boer being quickly transferred to Flo whose effort was blocked by Lee Wilkie.
The opening goal was merely delayed however – a De Boer head-flick six minutes later from a Mikel Arteta corner finding a gap in the Dundee defence. Nacho Novo was prominent in the visitors’ attack. In the 18th minute the Spaniard skinned both Numan and Amoruso to find himself clean through on Stefan Klos, but his attempt to chip the ‘keeper was hit too firmly and the ball sailed harmlessly over the crossbar – all this with Juan Sara free on his left.
Rangers were playing some superb football – in 25 minutes an exquisite De Boer pass inside the full-back found Ricksen only for his probing cross to be fisted away from the inrushing Flo by Julian Speroni.
Four minutes later the Dens’ goalkeeper again came to his side’s rescue when he blocked Flo’s hook shot from a Ferguson lob.
The Ibrox men remained well on top until the break without being able to underline their clear superiority with more goals.
Dundee found their goal under siege following the resumption of play as Rangers went all out to kill the game. A Flo header from a Muscat free-kick was held by Speroni, then the Italian goalkeeper had to be alert to turn wide a 25-yard Ricksen free-kick, and finally his defence came to the rescue when Muscat saw his header from a Ferguson free-kick cleared off the line.
Amidst all this pressure three Dundee players found themselves yellow-carded. Shota Arveladze forced his way through the Dens’ defence in 56 minutes only for that man Speroni to turn his powerful drive over the bar, but the Georgian International would not be denied – in 66 minutes he seized on a Flo flick from a Muscat pass to sweep the ball home to put Rangers 2-0 up.
Three minutes later Mikel Arteta – in superb form throughout – swept clear of the Dundee defence only to be hauled down by Jonay Hernandez. Incredibly Aberdeen Referee Alan Freeland chose to caution Arteta for diving when just about everyone else in the ground expected the full-back to be penalised.
With ten minutes remaining Ricksen almost brought the house down when his first-time chip from a Ferguson pass landed on the roof of the net. It was all Rangers in the closing stages – in 83 minutes a long Ferguson pass released Arveladze whose clever chip to Peter Lovenkrands somehow eluded the Dane with an empty goal gaping, then sixty seconds later Flo, a tireless worker throughout, went through on a Ricksen pass only to see his shot come back off the base of the post.
The third and final goal of the afternoon finally arrived in 87 minutes when a slide-rule pass from Arveladze enabled Lovenkrands to stroke the ball wide of Speroni.
RANGERS Klos; Muscat, Moore, Amoruso, Numan; Ricksen, Ferguson, Arteta, De Boer (Lovenkrands 75); Flo, Arveladze
UNUSED SUBS Caniggia, Ross, McGregor, Konterman
DUNDEE Speroni; Mackay, Smith, Wilkie, Hernandez; Novo (Caballero 70), Rae, Nemsadze, Mair (Robb 70); Sara, Milne
UNUSED SUBS Langfield, Marrocco, Beith
REFEREE Alan Freeland