Dundee United 1-1 Rangers: Gers’ opening day hoodoo continues with frustrating draw | OneFootball

Rangers’ opening day difficulties continued tonight, as they failed to win their opener for a fourth consecutive season, this time drawing 1-1 at Tannadice against Dundee United.

Lachlan Rose opened the scoring after 37 minutes, capitalising on a defensive error and continuing his fine form since joining the side this Summer. Thelo Aasgaard netted the equaliser after Rangers flew out of the traps in the second half, turning his man before volleying home. Both sides had chances after the leveller, but failed to make them count.

As it happened

Derek McInnes’ first competitive starting XI as Rangers boss featured four new signings he had made this Summer, and he named Lawrence Shankland as the side’s new skipper following James Tavernier’s departure. Meanwhile, Jim Goodwin’s side featured six of his Summer signings, all of whom will have been hoping for the perfect start to their career in Tangerine.

Rangers and Shankland nearly got off to the perfect start when he saw a clever backheel well saved by Jack Walton. The resultant corner was delivered by Aasgaard to the far post, but Cammy Devlin’s strike flew narrowly wide of the post.

Dundee United’s first real charge towards goal came through Zachary Sapsford, who was allowed to get a shot away, but fired into the stand without troubling Ivor Pandur. The Gers came close again on the half-hour mark, with Ryan Don Naderi’s header forcing Walton into another save.

Emmanuel Agyei was next up to try and break the deadlock, but his volley sailed wide of the Rangers goal. Dujon Sterling and Mohamed Diomande both fired narrowly wide at the other end moments later.

However, it was the Tangerines who found the opening goal when Rose stabbed home from inside the six-yard box after a defensive miscommunication, meaning United had the lead at the break.

Rangers made a double change at half-time, which saw Naderi and Djeidi Gassama withdrawn in favour of Youseff Chermiti and Dan Neil. The latter almost immediately picked up the first yellow card of the season, for a foul on Agyei. Aasgaard’s deep corner caused chaos in the penalty area early in the second half, but Chermiti saw two shots blocked at close quarters. Emmanuel Fernandez saw his header saved shortly after.

Walton was called into action again seconds later to deny Aasgaard, with Rangers continuing to push for a leveller. The chances continued to flow with Chermiti and Diomande coming close moments later, before Vicko Sevelij was shown a yellow card for the hosts.

The equaliser came shortly before the hour mark, when Aasgaard turned his man before smashing a left-footed volley into the far top corner. Fernandez gave Rangers fans a scare inside his own box when he clumsily controlled the ball and nearly directed it into his own net, before clearing away.

Both managers turned to their bench on the hour mark, with Ross McCrorie replacing Ben Godfrey, who appeared injured, for Rangers, whilst Bert Esselink was replaced by Iurie Iovu for United. Another change followed for the hosts shortly after, with Daniel Bennie replacing Rose. Their final changes saw Panutche Camará and Idjessi Metsoko replace Sevelij and Sapsford.

Sterling was added to the referee’s notebook in the 77th minute for a late tackle on the left flank. The resulting free-kick saw a scramble in the box, which Rangers eventually got the better of. Aasgaard looked to double his tally for the night with an acrobatic effort but was unable to find the target. McCrorie became the third Rangers player of the night to receive a yellow card in the 80th minute.

McInnes looked for youth to make an impact on the closing stages of this game, introducing Findlay Curtis from the bench in place of Devlin. Jesse Randall looked almost certain to regain his side’s lead late in the day when he was played clean through on goal, but fluffed his lines, lifting the ball straight into Pandur’s arms.

Chermiti bared down on goal in the 88th minute, but failed to get his head up and look for Curtis, who had broken free at the far post, instead firing straight at Walton, who saved with ease. Pandur made a similar save at the other end moments later, denying Metsoko.

Three minutes of injury time did little for either side, with the game finishing in a draw, a result that will benefit Dundee United far more than Rangers.