Rangers Held to Draw by Dundee United in McInnes' First Match
Thelo Aasgaard spared Derek McInnes a bruising start to life as Rangers manager, dragging his new side to a 1-1 draw at Tannadice after Dundee United had threatened to spoil opening night.
McInnes walked into the technical area with all the usual noise swirling around a new Rangers boss and watched his team stumble through a first half that never really settled. United were sharper, quicker to second balls, more certain of what they were trying to do. The reward came early – and fittingly, it was historic.
Lachlan Rose wrote his name into the new Scottish Premiership season inside the opening period, drilling in the first goal of the campaign to ignite Tannadice. United carried that lead with a swagger into the interval, Rangers short of control and short of ideas.
The pattern had to change, and it did. Rangers emerged after the break with a different edge, the passing crisper, the runs more aggressive, the tempo finally befitting a side expected to challenge at the top. The pressure built, slowly at first, then with purpose.
It took one moment of clarity to cut through it all. In the 56th minute, Aasgaard found the pocket he wanted and finished with real composure, a clean, assured strike that silenced the home crowd and hauled Rangers level. McInnes’ first goal as Rangers manager came not from a scrappy set-piece or a deflection, but from a move that hinted at something more coherent to come.
For a spell, it looked like the visitors might turn the night on its head. They pushed United back, moved the ball with more conviction, and asked questions of a defence that had been largely untroubled before the break. The equaliser felt like a platform.
United refused to fold. The game tightened, the home side snapping back into tackles, slowing the tempo, disrupting Rangers’ rhythm. The contest, which had threatened to tilt decisively in blue, swung back towards orange in the closing stages.
Then came the moment that will haunt Dundee United. Eight minutes from time, substitute Daniel Bennie bent a wonderful, swerving pass in behind the Rangers back line, carving the visitors open and sending Jesse Randall clear. It was the chance. Clean through, the New Zealand international had time, space and the match at his feet.
He never looked sure. Randall tried to be delicate when conviction was required, dinking a tame effort straight into the grateful hands of Ivor Pandur. A huge opening, squandered without the ruthlessness that separates a point from all three.
Rangers, jolted, survived the scare and clung on to McInnes’ first point, a result that will feel more like escape than statement. United, for their part, walk away knowing they had the champions-elect pretenders exactly where they wanted them and let them off the hook.
The season has only just started, but the tone is already set. Celtic begin their title defence at home to Dundee on Monday night, Hearts head to Aberdeen on Saturday evening, and Rangers – under new management and already playing catch-up in the performance stakes – know they cannot afford many more nights like this.
