Dundee United 2 - 1 Rangers: The nightmare continues

THE nightmare scenario looms large for Rangers. As if their current crisis wasn’t distressing enough, this latest defeat, their third since going into administration, leaves Celtic feverishly hoping to clinch the league championship at Ibrox next Sunday.

If Motherwell do not beat Kilmarnock at Rugby Park on Saturday, a win for Celtic the following day would seal the deal. With 21 points already separating the Glasgow clubs, and an even bigger chasm on the pitch, where Rangers were able to pick only five substitutes yesterday, the Ibrox side are in no fit state to confront Neil Lennon’s runaway leaders.

Not that Ally McCoist, who thought that his impoverished team were unlucky to lose this one, is admitting as much. “I’ve never been scared of an Old Firm game in my life and I don’t plan to start now,” said the Rangers manager. “We have certainly got players who can win the game.”

Not yesterday they didn’t. Peter Houston, the Dundee United manager, revealed later that his team were shaking their heads afterwards, apologising for the quality of their performance, but they still won courtesy of goals by Keith Watson and Jon Daly.

“Can we play you every week?” chanted the United fans, whose team knocked Rangers out of the William Hill Scottish Cup last month. Now just 11 points behind the Glasgow club, they have an outside chance of pipping them to second place, although Houston insists that a top-six finish would be his biggest achievement, given the departures from Tannadice in recent years.

The Rangers side fielded here cannot have been an attractive proposition for those interested in buying the club. With Ross Perry and Rhys McCabe in defence, Andrew Little up front, and Andrew Mitchell, a young debutant, joining Salim Kerkar and Alejandro Bedoya in midfield, this was a weaker side than even McCoist must have feared having to pick in these most traumatic of times.

In fairness, injuries contributed to the dearth of options available to the Rangers manager, who also had Dorin Goian and Carlos Bocanegra suspended. Sone Aluko and David Healy kicked their heels on the bench, while Craig Whyte’s name rang out around Tannadice, as reviled by the Rangers support as it was cheered by their teasing hosts. The United players were almost as cruel, seizing a scarcely-deserved half-time lead though Watson. When Gary Mackay-Steven’s corner was only partially cleared, the young full-back, in for the suspended Robbie Neilson, caught the loose ball so well that even a touch by Allan McGregor could not stop it rising into the top-right-hand corner.

It was United’s only effort of a first half in which Rangers made most of the running. When Little steered a neat ball into the path of Steven Davis, the Rangers captain’s left-foot shot was pushed away by the goalkeeper.

Despite the scoreline, United could, and should, have been playing better, a fault they quickly rectified when they emerged for the second half. Within two minutes of the restart, they scored with their second shot at goal. Again, Mackay-Steven was the source, this time motoring past McCabe and curling a clever ball behind the Rangers defence. With Perry and Lee Wallace facing their own goal, Daly stepped between them to turn the ball over the line.

Suddenly, United were pressing and probing and winning the tackles they had lost before the break. They might have been three up when Daly found space on the edge of the area, but McGregor was able to scramble it to safety.

That was enough to persuade McCoist that it was time he introduced Aluko, who came on for Mitchell, and within six minutes, had helped to pull a goal back. After wriggling clear of two markers, his cross struck John Rankin so that it spun over the goalkeeper and into the net.

It set up a competitive last half-hour in which both sides looked bright going forward. Bedoya surged into space, but his weak shot was easily saved. Then Davis set up Little, whose right-foot volley was a better test of Pernis. The same player had a late shot that dipped over the crossbar.

United, though, came closer when Johnny Russell’s firm shot seemed to be heading for the net until it deflected off Lee McCulloch and over the bar.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Gary Mackay-Steven (Dundee Utd) Gave Rhys McCabe, the Rangers right-back, an uncomfortable afternoon.

TALKING POINT: Maurice Edu appeared to elbow Scott Robertson, but even Peter Houston thought it was accidental.

Referee: B Winter. Attendance: 9,464