Dundee 1 Rangers 1
Rangers dropped another two points in the Ladbrokes Premiership title race with a 1-1 draw against 10-man Dundee at the Kilmac stadium at Dens Park.
Rangers dropped another two points in the Ladbrokes Premiership title race with a 1-1 draw against 10-man Dundee at the Kilmac stadium at Dens Park.
After losing 1-0 at home to Aberdeen at Ibrox in midweek, the visitors found themselves in trouble again when former Gers striker Kenny Miller gave the home side the lead after just nine minutes when he capitalised on a hesitant Ibrox rearguard to beat keeper
Allan McGregor.
That advantage was cancelled out in 21 minutes after Dark Blues' defender Nathan Ralph was given a straight red card by referee Alan Muir for a foul
on Ibrox winger Daniel Candeias just outside the box as defender Andy Halliday fired in the resultant free-kick.
As expected, Rangers enjoyed the bulk of possession thereafter but their numerical superiority failed to pay off as Dundee defended stoutly for the well-deserved point to extend their unbeaten run to four games and which took them off the bottom.
Steven Gerrard's side moved into second place, two points behind Celtic but they will have to improve immeasurably if they are to get the win against Rapid Vienna on Thursday night to secure a place in the Europa League knockout stages.
After the Dons defeat, it was all change for Gerrard who was without the services of leading scorer Alfredo Morelos and midfielder Scott Arfield through suspension.
Joe Worrall, Andy Halliday, Jordan Rossiter, Ryan Kent, Eros Grezda and Kyle Lafferty came back in the side.
Andrew Boyle was in for the injured centre-back Darren O'Dea with Miller, who scored a hat-trick in the 4-0 win over Hamilton in midweek, leading the line.
Almost inevitably, the veteran forward struck to break the deadlock.
A long ball from defender Ralph looked comfortable enough for Connor Goldson but the Ibrox defender failed to deal with it at the edge
of his box and 38-year-old Miller pushed past him before knocking the ball past Ibrox keeper McGregor for his sixth goal in four games.
Rangers piled on immediate pressure as response but there was some drama when Ralph was sent packing by referee Muir for taking out Candeias
as he was about to burst into the box, a decision that surprised most in the ground.
Dundee's dismay was compounded when Halliday, with some assuredness, fired the free-kick high past Jack Hamilton to level.
Seconds later the other end, McGregor was forced to block a Miller shot after more indecision in the visiting defence.
The Govan side were on top however and in the 31st minute Lafferty had the ball in the net from a Kent cross but his celebrations were ended when the
flag was raised for offside, another decision that appeared contentious.
Glenn Middleton replaced Kent for the start of the second-half and after little improvement, Borna Barisic, back on the bench after a long injury lay-off, replaced Rossiter with Halliday moving into midfield.
The visitors continued to dominate the ball while simultaneously seemingly running out of ideas.
Oviemund Ejaria replaced Halliday with 20 minutes remaining as Gerrard tried another route to three points.
However, anxiety and frustration grew among the travelling support as their side's struggle went on.
Hamilton made a decent save from Ryan Jack's drive and although Rangers kept pushing and probing but to no avail and their supporters let them know about it at the final whistle, celebrated, rightly, by those in dark blue.