RANGERS IN COMMAND

Last updated : 02 November 2002 By Grandmaster Suck
Dundee 0 Rangers 3 (Malcolm 29, Lovenkrands 50, Moore 79)

Attendance 10,124

Oh Rangers, we love you!
Rangers chase for the League Championship continues unabated following today's 3-0 win over Dundee at Dens Park.

Comfortable as the final scoreline may appear however, the game was far from routine for much of the first-half as the home side created too many openings
for the comfort of Manager Alex McLeish who once again was obliged to field a makeshift defence.

Rangers made two changes from the starting eleven that had swamped Kilmarnock last Sunday with Mikel Arteta coming back from injury to replace Stephen Hughes and in a late change Kevin Muscat replacing Maurice Ross.

Likewise there was a late change of referee with Ian Fyffe substituting for Kenny Clark. Dundee were without the injured Steve Lovell and Tom Hutchinson.

With hundreds of ticketless Rangers fans locked out, it was galling to see the huge gaps in the home support, leaving one to ponder how any club can afford
to deny access to so many customers.

A one-minute silence in memory of former Dens player George 'Pud' Hill was observed prior to kick-off.

Rangers, wearing all white, were almost caught cold inside two minutes when Nacho Novo's pace carried him clear of the visiting defence as he chased a Fabian Caballero pass. Rounding the advancing Stefan Klos the Spaniard looked a certainty to score, yet as he stroked the ball towards the unguarded goal Craig Moore slid in to save the day.

There was a definite unease about the Ibrox defence in these opening stages as Dundee sought the psychological advantage of the opening goal, although
Peter Lovenkrands came close to doing just that in fourteen minutes when, released by Arthur Numan, he saw his shot parried by Julian Speroni.

An exquisite piece of skill by Fabian Caballero in twenty minutes almost struck gold when his back heel from a Garry Brady cross struck the post.

It was end-to-end stuff ­ Speroni had to produce an outstanding save in 27 minutes when a Muscat cross was flicked on by Ronald De Boer only for Michael Mols to be denied by a one-handed save.

The opener was merely delayed two minutes however, an Arteta corner finding Moore whose header struck the crossbar. A Mols effort from the rebound was blocked by Speroni only for Bob Malcolm to stab the loose ball high into the net.

Rangers went all out for the kill. A Mols turn and shot from a Fernando Ricksen pass was blocked by Speroni in 33 minutes, then sixty seconds later Lovenkrands should have done better than blaze a Mols slip over the bar.

The Dens men were far from out of it however ­ Barry Smith powered in a drive in 42 minutes from a Jonnay Hernandez pass that was just wide of the target.

The game changed irrevocably just before the interval however when Ricksen did well to break up a Dundee attack in his own half before finding Mols inside the center circle. A slide-rule pass released De Boer who was homing in on the target when Zurab Khizanishvili upended him. It was a clear red card, and the referee did not hesitate to order the defender off.

Rangers were now in command, and set out at the start of the second-half to underline that fact. A brilliant move in 48 minutes involving Ferguson and De Boer saw the Ibrox Captain crowded out, but two minutes later it was 2-0 when Arteta¹s cross from the byeline found Lovenkrands in space, the Dane making no mistake with a close-range header.

Stefan Klos had to be alert in 56 minutes however when he held Caballero¹s low drive following a Nemsadze break.

Rangers suffered two injury blows inside the space of four minutes when both Numan (suffering an ankle knock) and Ferguson (limping heavily) were substituted by Stephen Hughes and Bert Konterman respectively.

Speroni again denied Lovenkrands with a spectacular one-handed save in 73 minutes when Peter met a De Boer cross first-time.

Rangers wrapped the game up six minutes later however when an Arteta corner was headed home by Craig Moore to make it 3-0.

Manager Alex McLeish was content in his post-match summing-up:

"Dundee started the stronger team and gave as good as the got for most of the first-half but we gradually got the upper hand. We have a ruthless streak when we score. The game was over by half-time."

DUNDEE Speroni; Mackay, Khizanishvili, Wilkie, Hernandez; Nemsadze (Mair 69), Rae, Smith, Brady (Robertson 83); Caballero, Novo (Sara 73)
UNUSED SUBS Langfield, Beith

RANGERS Klos; Muscat, Moore, Malcolm, Numan (Hughes 69); Ricksen, Ferguson (Konterman 73), Arteta, De Boer; Mols, Lovenkrands
UNUSED SUBS McGregor, Caniggia, Latapy

REFEREE Ian Fyffe


Discuss on the message board

To see a larger version of the above photo, click here