Rangers lose ground in Premiership title race

Struggling Caen hold Strasbourg

GLASGOW, Dec 9, (Agencies): Rangers lost ground in the Premiership title race with a 1-1 draw at 10man Dundee on Sunday, missing out on the chance to draw level on points with Celtic at the top of the table.

After losing 1-0 at home to Aberdeen at Ibrox in midweek, the visitors found themselves in trouble again when former Rangers striker Kenny Miller scored in the ninth minute, capitalizing on a hesitant rearguard to beat goalkeeper Allan McGregor.

That advantage was cancelled out in the 21st minute when Dundee defender Nathan Ralph was dismissed by referee Alan Muir for a foul on Daniel Candeias just outside the box and defender Andy Halliday fired in the resultant free-kick.

Rangers enjoyed the bulk of possession after that but their numerical superiority failed to pay off as Dundee defended stoutly for a welldeserved point that extended their unbeaten run to four games and lifted them off the bottom.

Steven Gerrard’s side moved into second place, two points behind Celtic, who have a game in hand.

But Rangers will have to improve significantly if they are to beat Rapid Vienna on Thursday and secure a place in the Europa League knockout stages.

“It was not good enough,” Gerrard told Sky Sports. “We didn’t look like a Rangers team, individually we didn’t look like Rangers players.

“We kept making stupid decisions, we never really carried out the game plan that we worked on for the last couple of games. So no surprises in terms of the result because our performance didn’t deserve better.”

Miller

Days after holding runaway league leaders Paris Saint-Germain to a draw, Strasbourg were held 2-2 at home by struggling Caen. Strasbourg became only the second side to take points off PSG this season when the sides drew 1-1 on Wednesday.

So resolute in defense against freescoring PSG, Strasbourg conceded a sloppy equalizer with 10 minutes left when a poor clearance allowed midfielder Saif-Eddine Khaoui time to pick his spot with a rasping drive from 20 meters.

Strasbourg led 2-1 midway through the first half, with defender Pablo Martinez and South Africa forward Lebo Mothiba netting either side of Faycal Fajr’s equalizer.

Strasbourg are in eighth place while Caen is in 18th place and the relegation playoff spot.