Reserves Draw

[ian1964 10,457]

BARRY Ferguson completed his first 90 minutes since May as a 10 man Rangers reserve side was held at home by Dundee United.

 

Despite losing Christian Dailly to a red card after just 45 seconds, Tommy Wilson's side were on top for the majority of the game as Ferguson continued his return from an ankle injury.

 

Dailly was dismissed in the first minute after tangling with Danny Swanson just inside the penalty area leaving the home side without a recognised central defender in their ranks.

 

Swanson stepped up to take the resulting penalty but blazed the ball high over Neil Alexander's goal.

 

Boosted by the missed spot kick Gers adjusted their backline and recovered to take an early lead.

 

Aaron's trickery on the left earned him the space to deliver the perfect cross, setting up Rory Loy for his 8th goal in 8 reserve games.

 

Loy then almost turned provider for the returning skipper a minute later when his ball from the left just eluded the on rushing Ferguson.

 

But it was United who found the net soon after when Swanson' through ball picked out Prince Buaben in the box and he slotted an equaliser past Alexander.

 

The visitors almost took the lead on the stroke of half time when Danny Grainger crossed for David Goodwillie, who headed just wide of the post.

 

Wary of the threat, the home side introduced Jordan McMillan at the start of the second half with Andrius Velicka making way and Loy switching to the lone striking role.

 

McMillan picked up a yellow card midway through the half as United searched for a second against the new look Gers defence.

 

With the effort of covering for an extra man taking its toll, Tommy Wilson introduced more fresh legs as Georgios Efrem replaced Chris Burke and Andrew Shinnie took Aaron's midfield spot.

 

Those changes meant Ferguson would complete the 90 minutes, and he almost capped his first full match back with a goal when Charlie Adam hit the touchline on the left and cut the ball back for his captain, but Ferguson's effort was wide of the target.

 

Gers were almost made to pay late in the game when United sub Ryan Dow, a replacement for Greg Cameron, rifled a shot against Alexander's bar, but they held on to pick up a hard earned point against a strong Utd side.

 

Rangers: Alexander; Whittaker, McCulloch, Dailly, Smith; Burke (Efrem 63), Ferguson, Adam, Aaron (Shinnie 77); Velicka (McMillan 46), Loy.

Subs: Viaculis, Kinniburgh, McLachlan, Little.

 

Booked: McMillan, Efrem

Sent off: Dailly

 

Dundee Utd: McGovern; Kovacevic, Kenneth, Pope, Grainger; Buaben, McCord (Andreoni 46), Cameron (Dow 85), Swanson; Shala, Goodwillie.

Subs: Grant, Milligan, Smith.

 

Booked: Pope

 

Referee: Ross Haswell

 

 

See the POPE was playing

[alanmidd 0]

how do you manage to get yourself sent off after 45 seconds?

[calscot 0]

Looks like we played a strong looking side for all of 45 seconds...

[Super_Ally 0]

Why oh why did we extend Dailly's contract?

[Gribz 743]

Thats strong looking team that should be winning games

[calscot 0]

Still difficult with 10 men though... The report even said the 10 men actually dominated but it's hard to convert that into a win when you have more defenders in front of you.

[Super_Ally 0]

Durrant claimed Dailly's sending off would help the rehab of Fergie et al as they would have to work harder to make up for being a man down.

 

Surely having to work even harder at this stage of recvoery could in fact hinder there return to full and match fitness.