Klos is too hot to handle

Dundee United 1 1 Rangers

McCracken 10 (1-0) Namouchi 88 Subs not used: Jarvie, Samuel, Dodds, Scotland, Innes, Gardiner, Kenneth.

Booked: Ritchie 33.

Referee: M McCurry.

Bullock Wilson McCracken Ritchie Archibald Kerr Brebner McInnes Robson Grady McIntyre Klos Hutton Andrews Khizanishvili Vignal Rae Malcolm Ricksen Arveladze Thompson Prso Subs: Namouchi for Arveladze 65.

Not used: Smith, Mladenovic, Ross, Hughes, McLean, Smith.

Booked: Thompson 33.

Attendance: 10,461.

New year is the time ofr eccentric behaviour. Two minutes fro the end of a lively start to 2005 at Tannadice, Stefan Klos had a rush of blood to the head. As a rule the goalkeeper is the epitome of calm professionalism, but at the death yesterday he raced upfield into the United penalty area. As is often the case when goalkeepers attack, defenders panicked and Rangers had a precious equaliser.

The Rangers captain even had the temerity to claim that he had got a touch to Fernando Ricksen's cross and deserved to claim the goal for himself. "I went for the ball and I thought I got a touch.

Then I landed on the ground and the next thing I knew the ball was in the net."

Klos wheeled off in excited celebration, taking the eyes of everyone in the stadium with him. Hamed Namouchi, the player who had actually ghosted in behind Klos to bundle in Rangers' 88th minute equaliser, was ignored.

"Stefan went up and played his captain's part by causing a bit of disarray in the United defence, " said Rangers manager Alex McLeish. "I don't know if Hamed knew much about it."

The draw took Rangers to the top of the table and United off the bottom, both on goal difference, but Klos's twist in the tale did not reflect the story of the match. United are now unbeaten in four meetings against Rangers and deserved more from a game they led for 78 minutes after David McCracken's early header. The discipline and focus of their defending, in particular, made a mystery of their awful league campaign so far.

Snatching a late equaliser enabled Rangers to leave with a spring in their step, but they performed poorly and these were two points dropped rather than one gained. There was almost an inevitability about them losing a goal which would heighten the sense of Jean- Alain Boumsong's Pounds8 million departure to Newcastle. For them to concede one within the first 10 minutes to the team at the bottom of the SPL was enough for accusatory fingers to be pointed at the defenders he left behind.

The first post-Boumsong defence featured Marvin Andrews and Zurab Khizanishvili in the centre but it was another defender who won the aerial ball when Derek McInnes sent a cross into the penalty area. McCracken rose for a firm downward header which beat Klos at his righthand post.

The goal eventually earned United one point rather than three, but it rewarded their spirited performance. A torrential downpour while the players were out doing their pre-match warm-up created a treacherous surface and darkened Rangers' already downbeat mood. They found United difficult on two counts:

Ian McCall's defenders were diligent and aggressive and his midfield was tenacious in closing down Rangers whenever they attempted to find a rhythm.

McInnes, Mark Kerr and Grant Brebner were industrious across the middle, while Barry Robson provided a dangerous outlet on the left. With only Alex Rae, Bob Malcolm and Ricksen across their own midfield Rangers had no-one capable of elevating the central play beyond a scrap. McLeish later acknowledged his team's lack of invention.

There was an opening for Dado Prso, who wanted to beat too many defenders and was dispossessed, and later the Croatian met a deft Ricksen cross to flick a header narrowly wide of the far post.

Shota Arveladze slipped the ball into United's net - ruled offside - but it would take Rangers until first-half stoppage time to create a clear goalscoring chance. Steven Thompson's flick sent Rae through one-on-one and while Tony Bullock deserved great credit for the reflex save which saw him block Rae's low shot with his left leg, the midfielder should have scored.

Rangers would have presumed the match might have settled into an onslaught on United's goal until an inevitable equaliser, but the game refused to settle into such an obliging pattern until they began to exert a greater degree of pressure in the closing half hour. By then the match might have been put beyond them. Jim McIntyre and Brebner both came agonisingly close to converting a James Grady cut- back in the face of the goalmouth and United should have had a penalty when the ball struck Gregory Vignal's arm on the goalline from a Robson corner.

"I am not slagging anybody but it was definitely a penalty, " said McCall. "Vignal moved his hands to the ball to stop it going into the net."

Soon after, Alan Archibald - outstanding along with the rest in United's defence - threatened when he unleashed a rising long-range shot which Klos pushed over the crossbar.

Rangers looked dangerous when they got in behind United's full- backs but it happened too infrequently for them. On one such occasion, Shota Arveladze fired the ball across goal and only Paul Ritchie's excellent saving clearance denied Thompson, and when substitute Namouchi later burrowed in from the left his shot was saved by Bullock.

Rangers seemed beaten but 2005 would have a twist at the beginning, not the end. As the visitors prepared to take a corner, their goalkeeper took one look towards his dug-out before deciding to run upfield and spread mayhem. The equaliser, with just two minutes left, was literally a Klos run thing.

FAST FOOTBALL Fair result? United overachieved and Rangers underachieved, and the team which began the day at the foot of the SPL could feel desperately aggrieved to have concede a goal two minutes from time having held the lead for 78 minutes. The draw was harsh on United.

Entertainment value? A cold, wet day and a greasy pitch on Tayside was far from promising, but to the players' credit they created an open game which did not lack in incident.

Talking point: Stefan Klos racing up into the United penalty area when Rangers had an 88th minute corner, spreading panic and allowing Hamed Namouchi to bundle in the equaliser. Klos wheeled off as if he had scored it himself. but he had made no contact.

Man of the match:

Paul Ritchie, who came off his sick bed and played excellently.

Ian McCall: "I might feel differently in the morning but at the moment it feels like a defeat. The fans saw Dundee United players being proud to wear the jerseys today."

Alex McLeish: "Defeat was staring us in the face but we threw everything at United in the second half. We have to be doing that against teams right from the kick-off."

Copyright 2005 SMG Sunday Newspapers Ltd.
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.