Dundee Utd 3-3 Rangers: Rangers bounce back

JUST when you thought these two teams could not produce anything as exciting as their recent meeting in the CIS Cup final, they contrived to come up with a game of similar character but even greater appeal.

Again Rangers had to come back from being behind – three times here, as opposed to two at Hampden – and again they relied on an errant pass-back from a United player for one of their equalisers, with Willo Flood the offender rather than Mark Kerr.

This time, though, without a penalty shoot-out to divide the teams, the spoils were shared.

As a result Rangers are now seven points clear of Celtic rather than the gap of nine they had hoped for, but they still have a game in hand, and the title remains theirs to lose.

Walter Smith said in the aftermath of last Thursday's lacklustre Uefa Cup draw with Sporting Lisbon that his team had been suffering from mental fatigue, and it was therefore predictable that the Rangers manager would make a number of changes for this league game.

Christian Dailly will almost certainly partner Carlos Cuellar in central defence against Sporting in place of the suspended Davie Weir, and Smith may have been tempted to give him a run-out in the position here.

Instead, he retained Weir's partnership with Cuellar, and played Dailly at right-back in place of Kirk Broadfoot.

In his other changes from the team which began the 0-0 draw in the first leg of the quarter-final, Smith introduced Steven Whittaker on the right side of midfield in place of Hemdani, and reverted to two up front – Kris Boyd and Nacho Novo – in place of Jean-Claude Darcheville.

Steven Davis dropped out of midfield to make way for the extra striker.

Despite those alterations, it was Dundee United who began the game looking fresher and more alert. They steadily secured dominance of the midfield, thanks largely to Flood, who received valuable support from Morgaro Gomis.

It was Flood who created the first chance of the match with a cross five minutes in.

Noel Hunt did well to reach the ball at the far post, but he had stretched too far and headed wide.

Mark de Vries was next to have an attempt on goal, but his snap shot did not cause too much trouble for Allan McGregor, who had plenty of time to get down and save.

Novo and Lee McCulloch had efforts off target around the half-hour mark as Rangers came more into the contest, but United deservedly took the lead seven minutes before the break through Christian Kalvenes.

When Flood was fouled on the right midway into the Rangers half, he took the free-kick himself, and Darren Dods timed his run well to connect with his head.

McGregor reached the ball on the line but could only beat it out, and Kalvenes tapped into the net at the near post at the second attempt, his first effort having come back off the post.

Rangers equalised on the verge of stoppage time, and their goal also came from a free-kick.

Barry Ferguson took it, and Davie Weir rose above the pack to head into the top-left corner from no more than three yards out.

That exchange of goals was no more than a prelude for a manic 15-minute spell after the interval in which the teams found the net two times each. United went 2-1 up when a Kalvenes cross from the left was allowed to traverse the six-yard box to the far side, where Sean Dillon quickly trapped the ball.

The right-back shaped to shoot, but then crossed over McGregor to Noel Hunt, who headed in from close range.

There was a suspicion of offside about the Hunt goal, as there was about the equaliser from Novo which came five minutes later. That arose when the United defence were caught napping by a through ball from Lee McCulloch to the Spaniard.

With three United defenders closing in, Novo calmly rounded Lukasz Zaluska then steered the ball home just before Lee Wilkie could reach it from behind with an outstretched leg.

United appeared more enlivened than dispirited by this blow, and took the lead for a third time when, from almost beneath his own crossbar, Cuellar could only divert a Dillon cross into his own net.

But no sooner had the home side taken the lead than they had thrown it away again, when a Flood passback was seized on by Boyd, who clipped the ball beyond Zaluska and in off the right post.

With 15 minutes left, Smith decided his team required more firepower as they went in search of the winner, and brought Darcheville on in place of Kevin Thomson.

But rather than going up a notch or two, the pace of the game dropped. United had marginally more of the match over those closing stages, and would have seized the three points with minutes to go had McGregor not saved from a David Robertson header, then again in stoppage time when Kalvenes headed over from a Flood free-kick.

As it was, they were well worth the point which takes them back up to fourth place above Hibernian on goal difference.