Rangers improvement continues amid unnecessary tifo fuss as one niggling negative persists

Mikey Moore in particular took advantage of the situation, scoring once, his first for the club, and having another ruled out for offside. All this was before half-time. The on-loan Spurs star led Dundee a merry dance in the opening 45 minutes as he continued his improvement under Danny Rohl.

The new Rangers manager got what he demanded, which is the win that means the Ibrox side have now secured three league victories in a row for the first time in nearly a year. Philippe Clement was still in charge the last time this happened. Small steps and all that.

Rangers won the first half handsomely and contained a marginally improved Dundee in the second before adding a third goal right at the end through Djeidi Gassama’s curler.

The winger wasn’t even meant to be on the pitch. Former Dundee player Lyall Cameron was preparing to make his return first-team action as his replacement after 76 minutes but an injury to Derek Cornelius meant Nedim Bajrami was sent on instead. Gassama stayed on, to Dundee’s cost. Cameron’s comeback from a period in purdah will have to wait.

Dundee were better after the interval although that isn’t saying much. Perhaps the most damning statement on the situation was Rohl exchanging Bojan Miovski with Youssef Chermiti, the much-maligned £8million summer signing from Everton, at half time. The manager clearly sensed this was a ripe opportunity for the misfiring No 9 to kickstart his Rangers career. If he can’t score against this Dundee team…..seemed to be the thinking.

Well, he couldn’t manage that, unfortunately for him. It was about the only negative for Rangers, whose fans hailed Rohl at the end as well as throughout the game. Perhaps the Rangers hierarchy really have found the real deal. Possibly in recognition of the significance of the day, the away fans appeared to have agreed to suspend protests targeting chief executive Patrick Stewart and sporting director Kevin Thelwell. One would like to report that the supporters concentrated on events on the pitch, but sadly not. Some of the songs were of the shameful sort.

However, their team engaged with the task in hand. Nico Raskin opened the scoring with one of his trademark headers. The little Belgian midfielder is a phenomenon in the air. One would think Dundee might have clocked this.

However, he was left completely unattended after eight minutes and had the easiest of tasks to simply steer James Tavernier’s corner beyond Jon McCracken. He barely had to jump. It seems zonal marking was being deployed. Steven Pressley later spoke about “distances” not being correct. “We stepped out of our zone a little too early,” the Dundee manager explained.

Quite what was happening when Rangers skipped through the middle of the pitch on the way to scoring their second after 13 minutes wasn’t so easily explained away. Moore was at the heart of a move also involving Mohamed Diomande and Danilo and eventually pushed a shot beyond McCracken from the edge of the box.

It appeared Rangers would be thwarted in their efforts to score a third. Moore thought he’d followed up his maiden goal with another seven minutes before half-time but a long VAR delay saw it chopped off. The teenager swept home after McCracken had pulled off a fine save from Danilo’s shot. The 'keeper saw the ball late, with it having travelled between Diomande’s legs. This was a crucial detail since the Rangers midfielder was standing in an offside position.

The visitors’ third goal did come but not until right at the end. Rohl later praised left-back Jayden Meghoma’s industry for the overlapping run that created more space for Gassama, who cut inside Ethan Hamilton before finding the far corner.

Off the pitch, Dundee must be commended for putting on a very apt commemoration to mark the occasion. A school pipe band led the teams out before a perfectly observed minute’s silence, which is of course the finest of all tributes.

The Rangers fans unfolded a huge Lest We Forget banner despite a statement from the Union Bears claiming they had been told this was forbidden. Home stewards appeared to help them unfold it.

The pre-match controversy seemed all a bit unnecessary. The game itself was a complete let down and saw just one booking, for Raskin. It certainly lacked the drama of Rangers' epic 4-3 win at Dens last season.

After beating Celtic 2-0 last month, Dundee were eyeing their first Old Firm home double in the league since 1986-7 but it was never really on the cards here.

With the next game against Rangers scheduled for Ibrox, they might not get another chance to complete a rare double. They seem destined for a bottom six place. Indeed, some fans wonder if there’s a worse team in the league. Livingston are currently below Dundee. On this showing, that arrangement might not last long.