Football: Goram injured as Rangers fire blanks: Kitson at the double as Dutchman keeps Dundee United in game
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ANY sense of loss felt by Rangers this morning will be for an injury to their goalkeeper, Andy Goram, rather than for a dropped championship point from a game they might well have won last night. Unchallenged, Goram fell to the ground in the 67th minute and was helped from the field with a torn thigh muscle which has ruled him out of Sunday's Tennents Scottish Cup semi-final against Kilmarnock.
There was an unfamiliar look about a Rangers team lacking five top players and with Mark Hateley and Ally McCoist on the bench. In came Craig Moore, the 18-year-old Australian-born full-back who chose Ibrox ahead of Highbury, and Duncan Ferguson, starting his first game in almost seven months at the ground where his career began.
The first-half chances were created by the visitors, Guido van de Kamp denying them with several important saves. The first came after only five minutes when he beat down a Gordon Durie effort and four minutes later he pawed away a powerful swerving shot from the same player. The Dutchman again came to the rescue 11 minutes from the interval when he reacted athletically to push over a Stuart McCall volley destined for the top corner.
United made several sprightly attacks with Billy McKinlay instrumental in their best moves, but it was not until the start of the second half that Goram was forced into action, making two excellent saves when first he pushed over a McKinlay shot then touched a powerful Gary Bollan header round the post. Such heroics underlined the gravity of what ensued when, in only his 10th game back after a long lay-off, Goram collapsed.
Rangers should have scored two minutes prior to this when Ferguson eluded his marker in the penalty area but shot against the onrushing Van de Kamp.
Dundee United (3-5-2): Van De Kamp; Welsh, Petric, Malpas; Cleland, McInally, McKinlay, Hannah (Dailly, 83), Bollan; McLaren (Nixon, 87), Brewster. Substitute not used: Main (gk).
Rangers (4-4-2): Goram (Maxwell, 67); Moore, Gough, McPherson, Pressley; Murray, Durrant (Hateley, 80), McCall, Mikhailichenko; Durie, D Ferguson. Substitute not used: McCoist.
Referee: M Pocock (Aberdeen).
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