Dundee Utd 0 - 3 Rangers: Rangers back on top of SPL after cruising past United at Tannadice

Published on Tuesday 15 December 2009 22:22

RANGERS manager Walter Smith last night praised his players for overcoming both Dundee United at Tannadice and the negative circumstances currently surrounding the Scottish champions to go back to the top of the SPL.

• Rangers DaMarcus Beasley celebrates scoring with team mates. Picture: PA

Smith's side produced their best performance so far of a turbulent season to comprehensively defeat United 3-0 and take a one point lead over Celtic in the title race. With financial uncertainty and a dismal Champions League campaign having often engulfed Rangers in negativity, Smith was gratified by the manner his team achieved a positive outcome last night.

"We are very happy to be where we are at the present moment, considering all of the aspects surrounding us at the moment," said Smith. "Being top of the league always matters, regardless of what stage of the season it is. You always want to be there, but have to be prepared for when it doesn't happen.

"We are delighted to be there at the moment, especially at the start of a period of games where we play the teams in the top half of the table. We face Motherwell, Hibs, United again and then Celtic in our next four games, so that is an important spell for us."

In a match originally abandoned at half-time on 1 November because of a waterlogged pitch, Rangers placed United's own championship aspirations in firm perspective. DaMarcus Beasley put them ahead in the first half, before a Kenny Miller double after the break sealed a win which leaves Craig Levein's team seven points behind in fourth place.

"We are pleased with the performance and result," added Smith. "We started the game very well and continued that trend. We played really well and restricted United to very few opportunities. I feel we are getting a bit of momentum now. We had a bit of a blip when we lost at Aberdeen a few weeks ago, but we are now playing in a brighter fashion than at any time of this season." Miller, who for once outshone his strike partner Kris Boyd, revealed that Rangers' improvement is partly as a consequence of several dressing room inquests earlier in the campaign.

"We had a few team meetings where we spoke about not working hard enough on or off the ball," said Miller.

"We have addressed that and we are seeing the rewards. It was a great performance tonight and an even better result. We know we can do that to any team if we apply ourselves properly.

"We are back to the top of the table where we want to be and we fully intend to stay there. I'd much rather be there than chasing, as we were for the majority of last season.

"I think tonight was our best performance of the season so far. This is a tough place to come, as you saw a few weeks ago when United played Celtic who were 1-0 up and dominant but lost the game 2-1. We were wary of that tonight when we were only one up, so it was good to get the other goals in the second half." United manager Levein was at a loss to explain his side's generally tame performance which saw them suffer their first SPL defeat in ten matches since they were beaten by Motherwell in mid-September.

"We just didn't start the match well, then fell away and got worse from there," said Levein. "The expectation on us tonight was no different than it was before we beat Celtic, but we just had too many players who didn't do their jobs.

"We just under-performed. A lot of players who have been playing well just didn't do so tonight and there are times when we have to rise to the pressure of people's expectations.

"I can't in all honesty say there was any part of the game where I felt we had a foothold in it. We have a lot to look at and analyse in terms of our own performance, although we also have to recognise that Rangers played very well.

"The best thing we can learn from this game is that we can't afford to take our foot off the gas in any match we play. But it doesn't necessarily mean no-one is going to split the Old Firm this season. That will all depend on what happens in the next few weeks if we can get back to winning games regularly."

• Match report: DaMarcus Beasley and Miller put United to the sword