By Alistair Aird
A few short weeks ago our penultimate fixture of a topsy turvy season could well have seen us crowned Scottish Premiership champions. After bouncing back to draw 3-3 against Celtic at Ibrox, Rangers trailed their Old Firm foes by a point. Ahead of us were away games against Ross County, and tonight’s opponents, Dundee. Two victories would have propelled us to the summit as the league spilt with five games to go. The ball was very firmly in our court.
Unfortunately, when we took an almighty swing at it, rather than rip a clean winner down the line, we swiped, missed, and fell on our face. One point from six dealt a telling, and ultimately fatal, blow to title hopes that had been revived remarkably by Clement since he arrived to steady the listing ship back in October.
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But on reflection, this was a Rangers side punching above their weight, perhaps over-achieving and in the process, lulling us all into a false sense of security. In the midst of the hysteria and hyperbole that invariably follows any Old Firm defeat never mind one that to all intents and purposes sealed the title for Celtic, a reality check was needed.
With one or two exceptions – notably Jack Butland and Dujon Sterling – the core of the squad the Belgian inherited continues to be haunted by a horrible habit that has lingered like a malodorous miasma since Steven Gerrard left for Aston Villa. We seem to get stage fright against Celtic, and we simply haven’t laid a glove on them in the opening exchanges of the majority of the matches we have played lately.
Although they have been there for the taking, we have shown them too much respect and afforded them too many opportunities to gain the ascendancy. They have been ruthless while we have cowered in the corner. Punching above our weight or otherwise, that is something the Clement has to eradicate, starting in 11 days’ time in the Scottish Cup Final. Whether he can do that with the current crop remains to be seen.
Thus, rather than Ibrox being awash with fervour ahead of the final home game of the season, it was sparsely populated and subdued. And you felt it would take something special from a ravaged Rangers side to stir their emotions.
With the squad decimated again by injury and the suspension that followed a moment of Lundstram lunacy at the weekend, Clement made five changes to the side that had lost at Parkhead. Out went Souttar, Barisic, Sterling, the aforementioned Lundstram and Lawrence, and in came King, Yilmaz, McCausland, Raskin, and Cantwell.
For Leon King, who turned 20 back in January, this was appearance number 36 for Rangers. Prior to this game, his sum total of minutes for the season was 14. The last time he had been selected in the starting XI was on the last day of last season when Rangers defeated St Mirren 3-0. If anything summed up the dire straits Clement’s squad were in ahead of this one, then it’s those statistics.
Although it was a dead rubber, this was still an opportunity for some of the fringe players to stake a claim for a Cup Final place. For example, Nico Raskin, who had excelled in the latter of half of last season, has fallen behind Lundstram and Diomande in the pecking order. At times, Tom Lawrence and Kieran Dowell have been picked ahead of him too. But the Belgian, who has only started 17 games this season, was one of the few who emerged with pass marks at the weekend. Another couple of performances of a similar ilk in the two remaining league games could well see him get the nod ahead of a suspension-free but labouring Lundstram at Hampden.
And then there was the enigmatic Todd Cantwell. Dropped in favour of Tom Lawrence at Parkhead then left on the bench when Rangers were desperately seeking some guile when Celtic got cagey late in the game, many feel simmering tensions remain between the blonde Englishman and his bald Belgian manager. Some even suggest his foreseeable future will be away from Ibrox. Nonetheless, he still possesses the tools to unlock a defence, and with Lawrence injured again, this was his chance to thrust himself into the reckoning when Clement looks to find a resolution to his Cup Final selection conundrum.
Dundee got the ball rolling with the stadium clock showing 19:32. There was much more muted battle cry from the follow followers – a sign of the times perhaps – and this was one of those matches at Ibrox where you felt the players needed to start fast to ensure there was that ‘synergy’ Clement so often refers to.
And they almost got off to a great start after only three minutes. The ball broke to Ridvan Yilmaz on the edge of the box, and he rifled in a shot that stung the palms of the Dundee goalkeeper, Jon McCracken. The little Turk has been sorely missed as points have been spilled and with Borna Barisic almost certain to leave when his contract expires, it bodes well that he will be part of the squad that Clement will remould and rebuild in the summer.
Another player whose absence was felt keenly when we were dire in Dingwall and Dundee was Mo Diomande. He enjoyed a good start to this game, stamping his authority in midfield and firing in a couple of efforts from distance too. Taking up the option to buy on him at the end of his loan spell would, in my opinion, be another step in the right direction in the restructuring process. Although there have been some dips and inconsistency – things you have to expect from a young, developing player – he offers dynamism and efficiency in equal measure. He has a bright future.
One player who won’t be part of the plans next season is Fabio Silva. Although injuries to our wide players have seen him deployed as a winger and robbed him of opportunities to play in his natural position, the loan move from Wolverhampton Wanderers hasn’t worked out for either party. But he almost finished with a flourish after 15 minutes, zipping in a shot that skimmed the top of the crossbar.
As the clock ticked towards 8pm, darkness descended, and rain cascaded down in torrents. The home fans were thankful the Ibrox roof wasn’t as porous as the one at Old Trafford or else they would have been drenched.
There was no real or sustained tempo, rhythm, or pattern to Rangers’ play at this stage. There had been some flashes that suggested the vim and vigour we had seen during that 11-game winning streak under Clement was still in the locker somewhere, but alas, Rangers were once again bedevilled by an ailment we have seen all too often of late, the failure to either find or execute that final, killer pass.
After some enterprising play from Cantwell, the Englishman drew a foul in Tavernier territory. But the captain, without a goal in his last five games, didn’t set his sights properly on this occasion and his free kick dipped over the bar. Moments later, McCausland wriggled into space, but was denied by McCracken.
After 36 minutes, the deadlock was almost broken. Ridvan failed to win the ball in midfield, and when the ball was funnelled to Amadou Bakayoko on the edge of the box, he drew the umpteenth magnificent save this season from Jack Butland.
But the reprieve would only by temporary as two minutes later, Dundee did find the net when Jordan McGhee took advantage of hesitancy by King to score. And sixty seconds later, the visitors scored again. If the roof wasn’t porous, the Rangers defence most certainly was as Antonio Portales flicked the ball into the net. Boos akin to the ones we had heard in the dying embers of the Michael Beale era greeted the goal.
Confidence was sagging, shoulders slumped. But McCausland clawed Rangers back into the game, halving the deficit in the process, when he squeezed a shot beyond McCracken. It was a crumb of comfort, something to cling to, but didn’t stop the ears of the players being bombarded with boos as they trudged up the tunnel at the interval. History was repeating itself.
The last time Dundee won in the league at Ibrox was March 2001. Rangers had Marcus Gayle at centre forward and Claudio Caniggia scored the first of Dundee’s two goals. Their current Dens Park crop were now 45 minutes away from ending that 23-year winless run. And given what has happened of late, not many among the Rangers support would have had much faith in their crumbling squad doing anything to prevent that from happening.
But they did.
Seven minutes of the second half had elapsed when the scores were levelled at 2-2. Cantwell lofted in a cross from the left that picked out Dessers who nodded the ball into the net for his 22nd goal of the season. It was the Nigerian’s first real opening of the evening, and he took it with aplomb.
The goal was like a shot of adrenaline. Suddenly, Rangers looked lively as if they had been awoken at last from what has been a month-long slumber.
After 57 minutes, Cantwell showed twinkle toes to get himself in a shooting position but saw his left foot shot parried by McCracken. Ridvan then burst through the middle and fizzed a shot narrowly over the bar. That would be the little man’s last involvement as he was replaced by Robbie Fraser on the hour. Perhaps it was a precautionary measure as Ridvan didn’t seem to be in any discomfort.
The situation was clarified by Clement post-match. The medical staff had said Ridvan should play maximum an hour and ideally 45 minutes. But the predicament Rangers found themselves in at the break saw the manager push him on for that extra 15 minutes. And while he was critical of Ridvan’s involvement in Dundee’s opening goal – something he attributed to coming back from injury – he was also fulsome in his praise of him in an attacking sense.
Rangers hit the front after 65 minutes. It may have been fortuitous – Cantwell was aiming to pick out a team mate but instead his right foot cross arced over McCracken – but it was no more than Cantwell deserved for an enterprising start to the second half. He was seizing the gauntlet that had been thrown down by Clement and on this evidence, he is a certain starter in the Cup Final.
Riding on the crest of confidence wave, Cantwell was at the heart of everything. The January 2023 to May 2023 version of him was back with a vengeance, and on 72 minutes, his delicious flick sent Silva clear. He was thwarted by McCracken who then sprawled across his goal to scoop a Dessers header off the line.
Cole McKinnon came on for King with 15 minutes to go, a change that saw Tavernier move to centre-back. We have had to do some tinkering lately, but I don’t think you’ll find many that would have suggested one of the moves would have witnessed the Rangers captain channelling his inner Connor Goldson at the heart of the defence.
We then witnessed the two sides of Cyriel Dessers inside a minute. Firstly, he was picked out by Cantwell but took too many touches in the box when a first time shot would have been the better option. He then bent a beautiful first time shot in from the edge of the area. Had he struck the first effort with the same cleanliness he did the second, goal number 23 of the season for Rangers would have been incoming.
The big man has been pilloried throughout the season, but he hasn’t hidden away. He may not be refined or your stereotypical predatory number nine, but he has posted a decent goal return. He’ll undoubtedly have more competition for the jersey next season, but he merits the opportunity to form part of the restructure.
With three minutes to go, Scott Wright, one of three changes made after 82 minutes, sealed the points with a good finish at the back post. And while all was not quite completely forgiven, there was a happier vibe reverberating around Ibrox now. What a difference 45 minutes makes!
Rangers finished with a flourish, and after fine interplay involving Wright and Roofe, Cantwell dragged a shot wide. And Wright placed the cherry on top of the icing on the cake when he curled in a fifth goal three minutes into stoppage time.
The second 45 minutes provided evidence that somewhere deep within there are some positive things about the current Rangers team. Cantwell was crafty and creative, Dessers was dangerous, and the defence, while largely untroubled, had some solidity. It was a flashback to those matches where they had us believing the title was on its way to Ibrox.
History will inevitably badge the league campaign of season 2023/24 as ‘so near, yet so far’. The season has ebbed and flowed, taking us to the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. But maybe, just maybe it might still end lined with more silverware.