STALEMATE AT TANNADICE

Rangers failed to close the gap in the title race this afternoon, lamentably dropping two points in a goalless draw at Tannadice. Incredibly it was a game that the Ibrox men totally dominated yet failed to breach a solid home defence, and in which the Light Blues ended the game with just ten men, Sotirios Kyrgiakos being ordered off in 88 minutes. Rangers, wearing their new third strip of navy blue jerseys and shorts with white socks had incredibly failed to defeat Dundee United in their last five League meetings, although there was the small matter of last season’s League Cup Semi-Final in the midst of the same period Manager Alex McLeish made two changes from the Dunfermline game with Brahim Hemdani at last making his competitive debut in place of Ian Murray and Francis Jeffers replacing Thomas Buffel – injured on International duty in midweek for his native Belgium, the latest in a long line of Rangers players to be crocked whilst playing for their country. It was the visitors who made all the running from the whistle with Chris Burke firing over from a Fernando Ricksen cross in five minutes. Eight minutes later a long through-ball from Hemdani was back-headed goalwards by Dado Prso only for Alan Archibald to head off the line. The Croatian forward was putting in a power of work – and his fifteenth minute cross from the byeline deserved a better fate than to be missed entirely by Jeffers and fired over by Peter Lovenkrands. Nine minutes later another Prso cutback saw Jeffers shoot over, but the English striker was unlucky in 28 minutes when his shot on the turn from a Hemdani cross was just too high. It had been one-way traffic towards Derek Stillie’s goal – Barry Ferguson coming so close in 37 minutes when his twenty-yard free-kick came back off an upright. Sixty seconds later Kyrgiakos was pedantically yellow-carded by Referee Charlie Richmond for kicking the ball away. Prso almost deceived Stillie with an inswinging cross that the goalkeeper clawed away in 39 minutes, then two minutes later Rangers had a strong penalty claim denied when the Croatian was hauled down by Alan Archibald as he homed in on a Burke cross. United had scarcely crossed the halfway line during the first-half yet Ronald Waterreus had to be alert in 48 minutes, holding a Jim McIntyre volley from a Mark Kerr cross in 48 minutes. Federico Nieto replaced the ineffective Franny Jeffers five minutes later, but the home side were now creeping into the game, former Ranger Barry Robson seeing his shot from a McIntyre flick held by Waterreus in 55 minutes. Three minutes later Lovenkrands saw his volley from a Prso cross flash just over. Hamed Namouchi replaced Chris Burke on the hour, but the game had now deteriorated into a stodgy midfield battle with defences on top. Ronald Waterreus was caught out of his goal in 83 minutes as he advanced to meet a long through ball, but when Robson seized on the opportunity to fire in an eighteen-yard right-foot volley Julien Rodriguez miraculously headed off the line, onto the crossbar, and over. The action soon switched to the other end two minutes later with Prso seeing his shot cleared of the United goal-line by former Ranger Paul Ritchie. Rangers were reduced to ten men in 88 minutes when Kyrgiakos received a second yellow and subsequent red for an innocuous foul on substitute Colin Samuel. The goalless draw means that the Champions have now failed to win any of their last four away games, and incredibly have failed to defeat Dundee United in six consecutive League fixtures. The omens are not promising for Wednesday’s Champions League appointment with Artmedia Bratislava. DUNDEE UNITED Stillie; McCracken, Ritchie, Archibald; Wilson, Canero, Kerr, Brebner, Robson; Fernandez (Miller 71), McIntyre (Samuel 71) UNUSED SUBS Samson, Dodds, Duff, Kenneth, Robertson RANGERS Waterreus; Ricksen, Kyrgiakos, Rodriguez, Bernard; Burke (Namouchi 61), Hemdani, Ferguson, Lovenkrands (McCormack 77); Jeffers (Nieto 53), Prso UNUSED SUBS Klos, Andrews, Murray, Lowing REFEREE Charlie Richmond