Dundee UtdDundee Utd |
0 - 40 - 4 |
RangersRangers |
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League (SPL) |
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Goalscorers | |
None. |
Steven Whittaker (pen.) (22) Steven Whittaker (pen.) (60) Nikica Jelavic (72) Kyle Lafferty (83) |
Team Managers | |
Peter Houston |
Walter Smith |
Starting Eleven | |
1. Dušan Perniš 4. Scott Severin 18. Garry Kenneth 2. Seán Dillon 19. Mihael Kovačević 14. Danny Swanson 16. Morgaro Gomis 12. David Robertson 8. Scott Robertson 27. Johnny Russell 25. David Goodwillie |
Allan McGregor David Weir Sasa Papac Steven Whittaker Madjid Bougherra Maurice Edu Steven Davis Kyle Lafferty Steven Naismith Nikica Jelavic Kyle Hutton |
Bench | |
13. Steve Banks 21. Timothy van der Meulen 17. Barry Douglas 15. Prince Buaben 6. Craig Conway 20. Andis Shala 9. Jon Daly |
Neil Alexander Ricky Foster Gregg Wylde John Fleck David Healy El-Hadji Diouf Salim Kerkar |
Substitutions | |
Barry Douglas for David Robertson (24) Timothy van der Meulen for David Goodwillie (62) Prince Buaben for Danny Swanson (65) |
El-Hadji Diouf for Kyle Hutton (34) John Fleck for Steven Naismith (62) David Healy for Nikica Jelavic (79) |
Cautions | |
Timothy van der Meulen (84) |
Steven Naismith (16) Kyle Hutton (31) |
Red Cards | |
Mihael Kovačević (21) Seán Dillon (59) Morgaro Gomis (78) |
None. |
Match Officials | |
Willie Collum (Referee) |
United went down to a heavy 4-0 defeat to Rangers but in truth that was half of the story. Unbelievably they finished the match with eight men as Kovacevic, Dillon and Gomis were all given straight red cards that all resulted in penalties for the visitors. Steven Whittaker scored from two of them and missed the final one towards the end of the game. Jelavic and Lafferty were the other scorers on a miserable night for the hosts. Despite injury and suspension respectively to both regular full backs Watson and Dillon, United still lined up with a very experienced defence. Kenneth and Severin started in the centre with Dillon and Kovacevic, playing for the first time since last season's cup final, making up the back four. In addition, the Robertsons, David and Scott returned in midfield with prince Buaben and Craig Conway dropping to the bench.
The game sparked into life after 15 minutes when Steven Naismith had the ball in the net, but the striker had deliberately handled and was booked for the offence. Five minutes later the visitors were ahead. Lafferty tested Dusan Pernis from the edge of the penalty area, the ball spilled to Naismith and after a challenge from Kovacevic the referee awarded a spot kick. The United defender was then harshly sent off. To make matters worse, Steven Whittaker sent Pernis the wrong way to give Rangers the lead. Midway through the half Jelavic spurned a great chance to double the lead, shooting wide from close range. With the extra man advantage, Walter Smith's men looked to kill the game before the break but twice Pemis denied them. Firstly, he brilliantly saved a Naismith header. Then on the stroke of half time, tipped a Lafferty effort over to keep United in the game.
With that man advantage Rangers always looked the more likely and just before the hour mark the game was over as a contest. Whittaker took advantage of a slack United pass and put Jelavic through. However, he was brought down by Dillon but despite the offence looking just outside the box, the referee awarded another penalty kick and dismissed Dillon. Steven Whittaker once again sent Pernis the wrong way and doubled the lead. From then on the game was played in the United half and after a great save from Pernis from a Steve Davis shot, Nikica Jelavic scored a third from close range with still 20 minutes remaining. Two minutes later, United incredibly were reduced to eight men and Rangers awarded a third penalty. Bougherra lofted the ball into the box and when Diouf went down after a nudge from Gomis the referee again pointed to the spot and showed a United man a red card. This time Steven Whittaker blasted over to keep the score at 3-0. United understandably showed very little in an attacking sense but they did battle to the end and lost only one further goal when Kyle Lafferty shot home from 20 yards to round off the scoring. In the dying minutes Davis fired over and Pernis made another fantastic save from a Bougherra free kick.
2010-11 | All Time | |||||
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Age | Nat | ![]() |
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|
Dušan Perniš (GK) | 26 |
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41 | - | 66 | - |
Scott Severin | 32 |
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11 | - | 11 | - |
Mihael Kovačević | 23 |
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1 | - | 57 | 1 |
Seán Dillon | 27 |
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41 | 1 | 162 | 3 |
Garry Kenneth | 23 |
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30 | 1 | 158 | 7 |
David Robertson | 24 |
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33 | 4 | 141 | 20 |
Danny Swanson | 24 |
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22 | 2 | 109 | 9 |
Morgaro Gomis | 25 |
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38 | 1 | 176 | 7 |
Scott Robertson | 26 |
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39 | - | 81 | 5 |
David Goodwillie | 22 |
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41 | 16 | 128 | 36 |
Johnny Russell | 21 |
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29 | 8 | 35 | 10 |
Timothy van der Meulen (sub) | 21 |
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6 | - | 6 | - |
Barry Douglas (sub) | 21 |
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27 | 2 | 27 | 2 |
Prince Buaben (sub) | 22 |
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39 | 3 | 137 | 11 |
No league table has been added for this season.
Tonight we finally meet Rangers for the match that should have been played here at the end of November. Rangers topped the table back then, as they do now, the only difference being that the three point lead they enjoyed over Celtic then was with the same number of games played. Whereas currently, Celtic trail them by just a point but crucially with a game in hand as the Ibrox side try to record a third successive SPL title. And as this will be the last time that Walter Smith brings a Rangers side to Tannadice before retiring this summer, I would like to pay my own tribute to him. In my book, he is the best manager the SPL has ever had from way back when he took over the reins after being assistant to Graeme Souness. After leaving Rangers he managed Everton before coming back home to Scotland where he did a terrific job restoring the national team's pride with some stirring performances. Very astute and tactically clever, his departure from the scene will be a great loss to the Scottish game. And never has his ability as a manger been more evident this season in which he has maintained a challenge to Celtic despite numerous off the field distractions and a depleted squad. However, my best wishes to Walter don't extend to his side leaving Tannadice with three points! No matter the circumstances, it is never easy when playing Rangers. But there is no way that we are going in to tonight's game lacking in confidence. We've won seven out of last eight SPL games, including that dramatic 3-2 win over tonight's visitors at Ibrox. After a heavy schedule, we have enjoyed a bit of a breather since beating St Johnstone in our last home game. And hopefully the chance to recharge our batteries means that we'll come out all guns blazing as we try to do the double over Rangers and take another step towards sealing fourth place in the table.