Dundee United vs Rangers. Scottish Premiership.
Tannadice ParkAttendance9,993.
Report as Rangers miss the chance to put pressure on Celtic in Scottish Premiership title race; Joe Aribo brought Rangers back on level terms after Ross Graham's first-half header put the hosts in front
Monday 21 February 2022 06:25, UK
Rangers were brought crashing back to earth following their heroics against Borussia Dortmund as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Dundee United at Tannadice.
The Ibrox side, who pulled off a stunning 4-2 win away to the German giants in the Europa League on Thursday, missed the chance to pile the pressure on cinch Premiership rivals Celtic.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst's team fell behind to a first-half goal from 20-year-old United defender Ross Graham but despite dominating the second half, they only had a Joe Aribo equaliser to show for their efforts.
United made one change to the team who started the Scottish Cup win at Partick Thistle last weekend as Charlie Mulgrew replaced Kevin McDonald.
There was also one alteration to the Rangers starting line-up from the victory over Dortmund as Filip Helander took over from Leon Balogun in central defence. Aaron Ramsey, who featured as a substitute in Germany, was missing from the squad with what the club described as a "minor knock".
Tam Courts expressed his pride after his side stood firm to earn a point with a Rangers side who won at Borussia Dortmund just three days earlier.
The Ibrox side were brought back down to earth at Tannadice following their Europa League exploits in Germany as they squandered two crucial points in the Premiership title race.
Courts was thrilled with the way his side seized the advantage in the first half and then dug deep after the break to stop the champions going on to win the game.
"Really proud," he said. "I spoke up the Rangers performance and result on Thursday night, it was great for them and for Scottish football. But domestic football is different, Scottish football is different.
"This is a difficult place to come because our fans are excellent, we have a lot of good players and we know how to execute a game plan. Once we got in front I think the only thing that was missing for us was actually getting the second one which would have made it really difficult for Rangers.
"But with the quality they've got and even the changes they made from the bench they are always going to push you to the bitter end and when they did score, as much as I was disappointed for the players, it probably didn't come against the run of play."
Courts paid tribute to 20-year-old centre-back Ross Graham, who scored his first goal for his boyhood club.
"It is a big moment for him," said the Terrors manager. "In terms of his performance and the team's performance today, they were probably very much aligned - there was a lot of composure on the pitch and a really big mentality.
"It was great to see him being aggressive in both boxes because he is a big guy and brings so much to our team."
Van Bronckhorst lamented his team's finishing after they had only one goal to show for their second-half dominance.
"The first emotion is disappointment that we didn't win," he told Sky Sports.
"I think in the first half we were good; not dominating but good.
"Second half was only one way and once we scored the first goal you see the momentum was for us. We created enough chances to win this game and that is the only thing that we didn't do well today.
"Twenty-nine chances we created, which is enough to win. We didn't (take them) and that is why we lost points."
Rangers are back in Europa League action on Thursday where they will be hoping to see the job through when they host Borussia Dortmund after winning the first leg 4-2. Meanwhile, Dundee United face Aberdeen next Saturday.
