RED FACES ALL ROUND
Title challenge threatens to peter out as hesitant Rangers lose their nerve
WHEN Steven Gerrard lectured his players on the perils of red cards last week, this, plainly, was not what he had in mind.
Playing with a man of an advantage for fully 71 minutes at Dens Park, following the dismissal of Nathan Ralph, Rangers really should have won this game out of the park, perhaps even dismissing Dundee by a margin sufficient to take them back to the top of the table.
As it was, Gerrard’s side seemed to lose their nerve and imagination just when opportunity knocked.
Ponderous and predictable for the most part, they failed to create anything like the number of opportunities required to prevail.
Five points have now been shipped across two matches and unless a mini-slump is abruptly addressed, there is a real danger that December will go down as the month in which their title challenge hit the skids.
There was no admissible excuse for the Rangers manager or his players here. Having lost to Aberdeen in midweek and seen Celtic hammer Kilmarnock on Saturday, the need to put in a quality display was apparent yet they were a goal down even before referee Alan Muir had sent Ralph packing.
Two weeks short of his 39th birthday, Kenny Miller’s typically opportunist strike against the club he played for in three separate spells must have had those who had decreed that his legs had gone scampering for cover.
That is six goals in four outings for the veteran whose unstinting application here was typical of what went on around him.
This, frankly, was a game in which Dundee would have been reduced to rubble not so long ago. But they are a different beast now.
After extending their unbeaten run to four matches, Jim McIntyre, their manager, walked up the touchline with his fist clenched at the jubilant fans in the main stand.
The Dark Blues are off the bottom of the Premiership for the first time since August. If they can replicate the desire and organisation they showed here, assuredly, they will not be returning there.
For Rangers, returning to the summit that they so briefly occupied now seems a tall order.
They moved up to second here after Andy Halliday converted the free-kick which stemmed from Ralph’s dismissal but that was scant consolation.
Gerrard, it can be said with some certainty, won’t be making six changes to his starting line-up again any time soon.
Kyle Lafferty was always going to fill the boots of the suspended Alfredo Morelos. Gerrard also positioned Ryan Kent in the central role behind the main striker, with Daniel Candeias and Eros Grezda detailed to provide the width. Jordan Rossiter started just his second league game of the season beside Ryan Jack.
Lafferty had an early sniff of goal on the counter, his angled drive from the right being pushed away by Jack Hamilton before being ushered to safety by Cammy Kerr.
Just as Rangers appeared to be settling into the game, they conceded in elementary fashion. Ralph’s chip forward turned the visiting defence towards their own goal and called for clear thinking and decisive action. Connor Goldson showed neither.
Whether the Englishman expected Allan McGregor to come and gather or if he simply did not see Kenny Miller chasing him down, only he could say.
In any event, the veteran took full advantage of the indecision by picking the defender’s pocket and flicking the ball beyond the advanced keeper to claim his sixth goal in four games.
His celebration was respectfully low key.
Confidence accordingly surged through McIntyre’s side. Calvin Miller’s dart into the final third had Jack floundering, with the midfielder picking up a booking for his crude foul.
The controversial dismissal of Ralph on 19 minutes came just as the home fans were sensing the possibility of a third straight win against the Ibrox men at Dens Park.
Although Candeias was taken out cynically by the defender right on the edge of the box, the Portuguese still had work to do, primarily getting past the covering Andrew Boyle.
The red card that was produced by referee Muir, presumably for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity, was therefore surprising.
Halliday ensured the punishment was immediately doubled with a perfectly placed free-kick into the top-left corner that left Hamilton without a prayer.
If Rangers may have benefitted from a marginal decision on that occasion, they appeared to be hard done by soon after when Lafferty was wrongly adjudged to have been offside when he guided Kent’s cross home.
Although Rangers were on top in the first half, inevitably even more so after Ralph’s dismissal, Dundee still had their moments, most notably when more indecision in the Rangers backline forced McGregor to
block Kenny Miller’s strike with his legs.
Not content with his earlier heroics, Halliday motored forward to connect with Rossiter’s cross just before the break but this time his effort was off target.
An angry coming together just before the break saw Genseric Kusunga and Lafferty booked.
Kent was hooked at the break, with Glenn Middleton put on the right and Candeias moved centrally. Then, before the hour mark, the ineffective Rossiter made way for Borna Barisic.
But there was never any question of the ten men of Dundee folding the way they probably would have done three months ago.
Sure, Boyle survived a penalty claim when the ball appeared to strike his arm and the Irishman also produced an excellent block to deny Grezda seven yards out. But Rangers rarely carved their opponents open.
Chances for Dundee were naturally hard to come by. When one loose ball fell to Calvin Miller in his own half, he spotted McGregor way off his line but could not find the target.
By that stage, it had long become a game of attack against defence.
Ovie Ejaria was sprung from the Rangers bench as a replacement for the frustrated Halliday with 20 minutes left as Gerrard sought the breakthrough.
Jack might well have done better with his attempt to find it with 15 minutes remaining, his curling left-footer lacking sufficient pace to really trouble Hamilton.
It rather summed up the way the day was going for the visitors.
Kenny Miller then departed, to be replaced with Benjamin Kallman, his tireless day’s work even drawing a ripple of applause from some visiting supporters.
By the time a featureless final period had elapsed, they were not feeling quite so charitable, though.
Their favourites continued to see almost all of the ball but did precious little with it and a costly two points slipped through their fingers.
If there are many more days like this, their hopes of a league title will soon go the same way.
DUNDEE (4-4-1-1): Hamilton 7; Kerr 7, Kusunga 7, Boyle 8, Ralph 3; Curran 6, Woods 7 (Spence 86), Kamara 7, C Miller 7; McGowan 7; K Miller 8 (Kallman 76). Subs not used: Parish, Nabi, Inniss, Moore, Lambert. Booked: Kusunga. Sent off: Ralph. RANGERS (4-2-3-1): McGregor 7; Tavernier 6, Worrall 6, Goldson 5, Halliday 7 (Ejaria 70); Jack 6, Rossiter 5 (Barisic 57); Candeias 5, Kent 5 (Middleton 45), Grezda 5; Lafferty 5. Subs not used: Foderingham, Katic, McCrorie, Coulibaly. Booked: Jack, Lafferty. Man of the match: Kenny Miller. Referee: Alan Muir. Attendance: 8,578.