James Tavernier came off the bench to score a late penalty and earn 10-man Rangers a 1-1 draw against Dundee but the Gers fans left Ibrox frustrated. Russell Martin was unhappy following the 1-1 draw in their Premiership opener at Motherwell last week and his side responded with a 3-0 win over Viktoria Plzen in the first leg of their Champions League qualifier on Tuesday night. However, it was a step backwards against Steven Pressley’s side, who took the lead in the 51st minute through a Ryan Astley header.
There was more Gers woe when defender Nasser Djiga was sent off but as the game moved into added time, captain Tavernier, a second-half substitute, levelled from the spot, after Drey Wright fouled Djeidi Gassama inside the box. Cyriel Dessers had the ball in the net in the seventh minute of added time only to be ruled offside, leaving the home side with two points from six.
Rangers will now prepare for the second leg of their Champions League qualifier in the Czech Republic on Tuesday night with less confidence than they had before they took on Dundee, and knowing their poor start to the title race could be costly.
The opening goal came after Mohamed Diomande conceded a foul 30 yards out. Callum Jones floated a free-kick into the Rangers box, Clark Robertson got first contact, and Astley looped a header over Jack Butland, with a video assistant referee check confirming the goal.
To loud boos, Martin replaced Lyall Cameron and Diomande with Nicolas Raskin and Kieran Dowell, and soon afterwards Djiga was sent packing by Don Robertson for denying Finlay Robertson a clear and obvious goalscoring opportunity by taking him out as he raced towards the Gers goal.
Tavernier and Danilo came on for Joe Rothwell and Max Aarons as Martin tried another route, but there was little real danger of note until the 90th minute when Wright tangled legs with Gassama inside the box. Tavernier sent McCracken the wrong way to set up a tense finish, and there was more drama when Dessers drove into the net, only for VAR to rule offside.
David Martindale is excited by the “gamechangers” Livingston now possess after Lewis Smith scored a stunning goal to help defeat Falkirk 3-1 in the battle of the two promoted teams. The winger, who joined from Hamilton last summer, fired home a magnificent strike from the edge of the area in first-half stoppage time to add to Scott Pittman’s 18th-minute opener.
After Robbie Muirhead’s penalty was saved by Scott Bain early in the second half, the visitors hit back through Ross MacIver before substitute Jeremy Bokila sealed the win late on.
Martindale said: “The amount of goals I’ve seen wee Smithy score like that is incredible. I feel from maybe the previous years in the Premiership, the last season especially, we’ve probably now got gamechangers on the park. There’s boys with real moments of quality.”
Stephen Robinson said St Mirren initially showed Motherwell too much respect in the their 0-0 draw in Paisley. The visitors dominated for long spells during the opening hour before Robinson adjusted his team and tactics to quell the threat.
Robinson said: “We complicated the press a little bit against them, maybe gave too much respect to them and that’s my responsibility. We rectified that, but had we maybe done that right from the start perhaps we could have won the game. So that’s my fault.”
His Motherwell counterpart, Jens Berthel Askou, was similarly satisfied at taking something after an opening-day home draw with Rangers. The Dane said: “We had our moments. They also had a few, especially on set pieces, when they brought some balls in the box. But having a clean sheet here is OK. Then we’ll go for three points next time.”
