First victory back in top tier for Rangers

First win in the bag but Warburton’s men must up their game, writes Neil Cameron

RANGERS may have won their first toptier game for more than four years, but if they want to get back to the good old days and challenge for the Ladbrokes Premiership title then they will need to do a lot better than this.

Mark Warburton’s men should have had this match sewn up before half-time. That they did not and allowed Dundee – who had been awful in the first period – back into things, would not have gone unnoticed.

Rangers were 2-0 up, missed a great chance to go three ahead, gifted Dundee a goal, which their defence is prone to do, and then passed up another opportunity to make it 3-1.

Of course, a win is a win and all that. Rangers actually played well for half an hour and scored two fine goals. But they have to find a way of making life easier for themselves.

“We were resilient in the second half but we shouldn’t have needed to be,” admitted manager Warburton. “I thought for the last half hour of the first half we were excellent. We scored two goals and should have scored more.

“We lost a goal from a set-piece, which was disappointing, and we then wanted to come out and replicate the first half and dictate the game, but that didn’t happen. I think we went down a gear and we will learn from that. We spoke about it in the dressing room.

“You could see in the first half what that squad are capable of. We were hesitant and nervous in the second half. However, it’s a win and in the second game of the season at a difficult place.”

While neither side was particularly great in the opening stages, it was the Dundee players who caused their manager the most angst. Judging by the waving of arms and shouting, Paul Hartley thought his team couldn’t do a thing right.

His mood was not helped by Rangers taking the lead on 16 minutes. Barrie McKay fed a pass inside the Dundee box to James Tavernier, the defender’s cutback eventually fell at the feet of Harry Forrester whose shot ended up in the top corner despite him being on the ground when he flicked his leg at the ball.

Rangers were well in command and got a second on 39 minutes when Lee Wallace made a fine run into the box.

He crossed for Kenny Miller, when he could have elected to shoot, and the veteran striker lashed the ball home with his left foot from the edge of the box.

Miller missed an easier chance a minute later when clear through on goal when it looked for all the world as if he’d taken the ball around Dundee goalkeeper Scott Bain, only for the ball to be stolen from his feet.

Right at the end of the half, after brilliant work from Forrester, Miller was given the chance to shoot 10 yards out and dead centre of goal, but his effort was blocked and cleared. He took the difficult chance and missed two easy ones.

It hurt his team because, before his second miss, Dundee got back into the game. The corner from Danny Williams was an inviting one for the attacking side, but surely one Rangers defender could have gone for the ball which was headed in unmarked by Mark O’Hara.

The second half was a different affair. A long ball from Dundee keeper Bain after 62 minutes allowed Williams to get behind Danny Wilson. He tried to get past Wes Foderingham, but the ball bobbled up and ended up in the goalkeeper’s hands.

Forrester had a good game but, after a booking for catching Darren O’Dea, he committed two more fouls and was subbed before referee Craig Thomson booked him for a second time. A lucky boy.

Dundee felt aggrieved that Rangers were not put down to 10 men. A goal would have lifted the mood around Dens Park and they came close.

After 70 minutes, a poor kick by Foderingham meant the ball was back at him in the blink of an eye courtesy of a shot by Dundee substitute Yordi Teijsse who also saw a header go over. Wilson was also forced to clear from under his own bar as the Rangers defence again stuttered.

“I thought there were a lot of positives, a lot of pleasing aspects, and felt we really gave Rangers a game,” said Hartley, who wasn’t interested in getting into whether Forrester should have been red carded.

“Overall I was pleased. There were good performances from us. We have lost Kane Hemmings and Greg Stewart [in the past two weeks], that’s 40 goals between them, and it is my job to replace them.”

We were hesitant and nervous in the second half. However, it’s a win at a difficult place . . .