Rangers1–0Dundee Utd

Because of BSkyB transmission our visit to Ibrox was brought forward to the Wednesday evening. It was a much changed United lineup with Dave Narey, Gijs Steinmann and Alex Cleland all returning to duty after lengthy absences, Gary Bollan was given a place on the bench for the first time, too. There could be no disputing that Rangers had the better of the first half. In the first minute Mo Johnson forced a save from Alan Main with a header and that was indicative of the first half proceedings. In the 32nd minute Maurice Malpas made a timely stop and then Jim McInally cleared a Gough header off the line, but minutes later we did fall behind when a long throw by Gary Stevens was headed away by John Clark, but only to Ian Ferguson who dived to head in at the far post. Four minutes later and with more than a hint of off-side against Johnston and Walters, the Scottish internationalist broke clear down the right before squaring the ball to Walters who somehow contrived to send the ball past the far post of an unguarded net! Before half-time we served notice of what was to transpire in the second half when a John O'Neil cross caused panic in the heart of the Rangers defence and ended with Billy McKinlay hooking a shot just over.

The second half was the exact opposite of the first, however, as we made almost all the running. Woods tipped a fierce first time volley by Hamish French over the bar as we pushed Rangers back on their heels. Indeed Alan Main's only save of that second period was to hold a low grounder from Mo Johnston at his near post. John Clark drilled in a free kick which wasn't far away and Jim McInally saw his shot deflected past as we stepped up our search for an equaliser. With three minutes left we almost got it when Darren Jackson warded off Brown's challenge as he sped clear to part with the ball to John O'Neil whose shot, unfortunately, was straight at Woods. That was our last chance to take something from a game which epitomised the cliche — a game of two halves.