Dundee Utd 2 - 1 Rangers: Thankless task but McCoist’s managerial abilities questioned

KEITH Watson, who scored Dundee United’s opening goal, said a lot about the desperate condition of Rangers these days when he described his team-mates’ reaction to Saturday’s match at Tannadice.

“When we came in, we were shaking our heads, thinking we were terrible, but we still got the win and the points.”

It has come to a sorry pass for Rangers when their opponents can win without working up much of a sweat. Trailing by a goal at half-time, and by two early in the second half, Ally McCoist’s team, so depleted as to be almost unrecognisable, were able to make a game of it only because a cross by Sone Aluko spun off John Rankin and into the net.

The Rangers manager made great play of commending his team for their efforts. He said that they did not deserve to lose, and that the performance of his young players was one of the few positive outcomes to emerge from the club’s recent crisis. United, after all, scored with their only effort on goal during a first half in which Rangers had the upper hand.

But the suspicion was that McCoist’s bravado was an attempt to protect a squad so stretched that he was able to select just five substitutes. In his starting line-up, Andrew Little was the lone striker, Andrew Mitchell made his debut in midfield alongside Salim Kerkar and Alejandro Bedoya, while Rhys McCabe and Ross Perry made up half of the back four.

It is a thankless task for McCoist, whose managerial abilities are now being called into question, as if leading the club through its darkest days was not enough for him to be going on with. The rap is that, in a different climate, without administration to occupy the media, three defeats in four matches would be subject to more criticism.

All of which is rather harsh on a manager whose job cannot possibly be separated from the circumstances that complicate it. Sure, the team on Saturday was not so very young – many of them were full internationals – but it would be mischievous to pretend that it was anything other than one of the weakest in modern times to represent Rangers in a meaningful match. For all that injuries exaggerated the problem, here was a reminder to the club’s prospective buyers of just how much time and money will be needed to restore it.

Dorin Goian and Carlos Bocanegra will return from suspension to play against Celtic at Ibrox on Sunday, which is just as well for Rangers. On this evidence, they will be hard pressed to do more than avoid humiliation in the Old Firm derby, which could double as their rivals’ title party.

If Motherwell do not beat Kilmarnock at Rugby Park on Saturday, a win for Celtic the following day will secure the league championship. It is every Rangers fan’s worst nightmare, to say nothing of the security fears harboured by Strathclyde Police.

To make matters worse, Rangers are in danger of slipping to third, or even fourth, in the SPL. The league table has been skewed by the deduction of 10 points from their total, but let’s be honest, there is not a team in the top flight who wouldn’t fancy their chances against the defending champions right now. Motherwell trail them only on goal difference, and are dreaming of a place in the Champions League qualifying rounds. Dundee United have beaten them home and away in the last six weeks.

The highlight of Saturday’s win was Watson’s first-half goal, struck crisply on the half-volley after a corner by Gary Mackay-Steven was not properly cleared. “As soon as it left my foot, I knew it was going in,” said the full-back, who was standing in for the suspended Robbie Neilson.

When Jon Daly turned in another cross by Mackay-Steven, two minutes into the second-half, United had all but secured their fourth straight league win. The three points mean that they have virtually guaranteed themselves a top-six finish, which Peter Houston, their manager, describes as his biggest achievement, given the number of departures from Tannadice last summer.

The only disappointment for their supporters on Saturday was the news that Scott Severin had been forced to retire from football at the age of 33. The former Hearts and Aberdeen defender, who suffered a triple leg break last August, took the decision after meeting a specialist in London.

Severin, who plans to pursue a career in coaching, is already helping the backroom staff at United, but there is no mistaking the blow it is to both him and his team-mates. “We are absolutely devastated for him,” said Watson. “Hopefully we can still see a lot of him between now and the end of season. He is one of the lads, a great guy.”