Old Father Time is on hand to end Gers’ four-year wait
RANGERS recorded their first top- flight victory since May 2012 at a sun- kissed Dens Park.
However, in what was a classic game of two halves, they were made to graft for it by a Dundee side which made light of the loss of star striker Greg Stewart to Birmingham City just 24 hours earlier.
Comfortably dominant in the first 45, Mark Warburton’s side, with Jordan Rossiter making his first start in place of Niko Kranjcar, went in a goal to the good thinking it should have been more.
By full-time they made the same trip, happy to see the back of Paul Hartley’s side and grateful to referee Craig Thomson for leaving them with 11 men on the field.
Harry Forrester was the lucky man.
Having shot his team into the lead, the midfielder picked up a yellow card at the very start of the second period for a challenge on Darren O’Dea that left the Dundee skipper requiring treatment.
Then, to the anger of his opponents, he followed up with bad fouls on Cammy Kerr and Michael Duffy, leaving his manager with little choice but to take his player off before he was sent off.
“Another referee might have given another yellow. I’m not sure, but we were going to substitute Harry anyway,” said Warburton, who praised his team for their resilience while noting they shouldn’t be putting themselves in the position where they were forced to show it.
Forrester’s indiscipline was a shame because he had earlier advertised his form when cashing in on the failure of the Dundee defence to clear Barry McKay’s routine ball by slamming a shot high into the net.
The sight of him spinning away in celebration was an uncomfortably familiar one for the home fans as it was Forrester who netted first for Rangers in their 4- 0 Scottish Cup quarter- final win over the Dark Blues at Ibrox last season.
If there was a consolation, and it was a very small one, on that day he took just 13 seconds to score.
Here it was 13 minutes plus some change.
Yet while the home side managed a quick response in the form of a Danny Williams effort that Wes Foderingham was obliged to palm away, they seemed oddly content to allow Rangers to stroke the ball about as they pleased.
Lee Wallace, in particular, was given the freedom of Rangers left flank to run down and used it to tee up Kenny Miller for his team’s second, his team- mate showing nice poise to set himself before smashing a shot past Scott Bain.
That Rangers remain a work in progress was underlined by the concession of the third goal of the first half from a set-piece.
Danny Williams swung the ball in and the unmarked O’Hara headed home for the simplest of the scores.
From a neutral’s perspective, it was a blessing because it kept things interesting for the second half, which saw the home side far more sparky and combative than they had been in the first.
They kept at it with the introduction of Yordi Teusse, an intriguing pick up from the Dutch amateur leagues, and Faissal El Bakhtaoui from the subs bench adding extra verve for the final quarter.
“I don’t think we played as well as we could have done in the second half,” admitted Rossiter, grinning happily in the post- match press conference.
“We managed to grind out the result and, from a personal point of view, it was great to be involved because that’s why I’ve come here, to play as many minutes as I can.
“I’m just taking things day by day. I want to keep improving and know I have a long way to go.
“I could probably have played a bit better today, but I know the manager will improve me.
“There is a lot of competition to play but you want to play in front of fans like ours every week.
“The away following was brilliant here.
“As the season goes on and the games roll in I think we’ll improve.
“We have Motherwell next week and then Kilmarnock away so I feel we have more gears to go and I’m sure we’ll reach them.”