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Rangers' win edges them closer to Celtic

11/05/2008

Rangers completed a controversial 3-1 win over Dundee United at Ibrox to move to within one point of Celtic at the top of the Scottish Premier League.

Walter Smith's team still have one game in hand on their Old Firm rivals, although Celtic will hope to re-establish the gap when they take on Hibernian today.

Rangers knew they could not afford any slip ups against the Tangerines and their nerves were calmed after Nacho Novo put them ahead early on.

The striker was able to beat United's dubious offside trap and had plenty of time to find the back of the net as he headed home Kevin Thomson's free-kick.

Novo doubled his side's lead ten minutes later with a spectacular strike. Daniel Cousin headed a long ball into his path; Novo then out-paced the Dundee defence and rifled a superb volley past Lukasz Zaluska.

United did not give up and in the second half had several chances to equalise denied by the referee.

First Noel Hunt was denied what seemed to be an obvious penalty when he was felled by David Weir. Then midway through the half they had a goal disallowed. Daniel Swanson's long-range strike deflected off Weir and went in the net but the linesman flagged for offside.

The Tangerines did pull a goal back through Mark De Vries but in the final minute of the match Jean Claude Darcheville made the game safe when he tapped home Barry Ferguson's cross.

Elsewhere, Motherwell enhanced their chances of European football next season with a 2-1 win over Aberdeen at Fir Park. Darren Smith opened the scoring for the home side only for Sone Aluko to equalise five minutes later. However, Chris Porter's goal ensured Motherwell took all three points.

At the bottom of the table, Falkirk beat Inverness 2-1, Kilmarnock won 2-0 away at Hearts, while St Mirren and Gretna shared a 0-0 draw.