The hour of Scotland

Thompson 5, 13pen, Namouchi 43 Subs: Namouchi for Mols 26, Vanoli for Rae 54, Ross for Ball 75.

Not used: Robinson, McCormack.

Booked: Thompson 5.

Attendance: 8,339.

Dodds 1, Scotland 59, 90 McGregor Hutton Khizanishvili F de Boer Ball Burke Ricksen Hughes Rae Thompson Mols Gallacher Wilson Innes McCracken Archibald Kerr Dodds McInnes Robson Miller McLaren Subs: Scotland for McInnes 45, Samuel for McLaren 80.

Not used: Jarvie, Duff, Easton.

Booked: McInnes 9, Robson 23.

Referee: D McDonald.

Dundee United 3 - Rangers 3 THERE will be tedious fixtures to endure as the season trundles to a close, but there can be no grounds for complaint when a match contains two Scotland goals. Both were dispatched into Rangers' net in the second half by United's substitute, Jason Scotland, ensuring that the deposed champions drew a match they had been leading 3-1 with almost an hour gone. The season may indeed have a few more lashes for Rangers before it is over.

At the end of next month Scotland will play Scotland - the Trinidadian will face Berti Vogts' team in a friendly at Easter Road - and if the national team defend as carelessly as Rangers did yesterday, there will be further misery to endure.

The signing of Marvin Andrews has been criticised, but Alex McLeish witnessed a display which vindicated the decision to acquire the powerful Livingston centre-half. While Zurab Khizanishvili and Frank de Boer relax when the ball is on the ground, in the SPL it comes at their heads. "We could have done with Andrews there today," said McLeish.

An anomaly of the split meant this was Rangers' third trip of the season to Tannadice. Four points from a possible nine is a poor yield for a team who had been contesting the championship. For everyone else, including a United side unbeaten at home for five months, it was a thoroughly entertaining afternoon.

In the unpromising surroundings of a two-thirds full Tannadice, the match exploded into a firecracker start. Mark Wilson's deep ball to the far post found Billy Dodds, and the forward rammed the ball into the net to score against his former club after just 41 seconds.

A pace had been set which would endure. De Boer sent a header on to the post and then Steven Thompson equalised for Rangers, reacting before Chris Innes could to force a Chris Burke cross over the line from six yards. Just five minutes had elapsed.

In Dodds, Charlie Miller, Derek McInnes and Barry Robson there were four former Rangers players in the United team, but the visiting support left them alone. No such kindness was afforded to Thompson, whose every touch was jeered by the home supporters with vivid memories of his time at United.

His aggressive demeanour ensured he would have a response for his hecklers. As he celebrated his goal he yielded to temptation and gestured to the United fans behind the net, earning such a quick booking from Dougie McDonald that for a moment it seemed as if the goal had been disallowed.

Thompson quickly proved himself capable of a far more significant response. Within the first quarter of an hour he had scored again.

When Stephen Hughes burrowed his way into the box, David McCracken blundered into him to concede a stonewall penalty. Thompson struck it low and true into the corner.

Rangers had reacted admirably to the surprise of United's opener and as the first half unfolded they took control. McCracken and Innes were hesitant and Michael Mols ought to have done better than slice a hopeless contact into fresh air from a languid long ball by De Boer. That came moments after Burke's clever pass allowed Mols to steal in at the back for a shot which hit the post.

Mols soon succumbed to a groin injury and it was his replacement, Hamed Namouchi, who seized on another long, diagonal free-kick from De Boer and drilled the ball past Paul Gallacher at the second attempt after the goalkeeper had saved his first.

The French-born Tunisian contributed well and passed for Thompson to try a rising shot which might have put the game beyond doubt at the start of the second half. "When you have the chance to win four or five-one you have to take it," said De Boer.

Rangers would pay for their lack of ruthlessness. After Gavin Rae was stretchered off, the second half would feature a further deterioration of their afternoon.

Andy McLaren nodded on a long ball by Alan Archibald and Scotland controlled it on his chest, evading both De Boer and Khizanishvili, before rifling a shot past Allan McGregor. Rangers had 31 minutes to protect their lead but looked unlikely to do so. McLaren lashed a volley wide of the post but that miss was excusable compared to the opportunity he squandered later, stooping to head wide when unmarked in the six yard box from Wilson's inviting cross. United would have one scare - Gallacher saving brilliantly with his legs from Fernando Ricksen's low shot - before snatching a precious draw in the second minute of stoppage time. De Boer sliced the ball to Scotland, who fed it wide to Wilson and took a position just inside the area. When Wilson's cross was knocked back across the box by Robson, the ball fell for Scotland to smash it low past McGregor for his second goal of a 45-minute display which consistently tormented Rangers.

"We lost elementary goals at the death," said McLeish. "But you could see them coming. United had the ascendancy and we didn't have that sleeves-rolled-up, thou-shalt-not-pass attitude."

When the equaliser went in, McCall and the Rangers supporters erupted: the United manager in delight, the away fans in anger at his jumping around on the touchline immediately below them. "Because we scored so late it feels like a victory," said McCall. For the supporters trooping back, it simply felt familiar.

Copyright 2004 SMG Sunday Newspapers Ltd.
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