Rangers 3-1 Dundee United

May 11 2008 Gordon Waddell At Ibrox

Gers Keep Their Energy Levels Up As Their Hopes Burn Bright

NINETY TWO minutes gone, the ball's heading out for a throw-in with a blue flame at its back. Out of nowhere Nacho Novo, a man with two goals and a marathon's worth of miles at his back already, slides in to save it and feeds Barry Ferguson.

One sweet cutback to Jean Claude Darcheville later it's game over - 3-1.

Whoever said there was a danger of a fuel shortage didn't tell anyone at Rangers.

Because this side never seems to know when the tanks are empty.

They have played 63 games now and the yellow light on the dial isn't showing - even after wasting a few teaspoonfuls on a lap of honour for the fans in their last home game.

And no-one exemplified that energy better than the little Spaniard. Novo had the afterburners on all afternoon, his relentless running earning him the free-kick that sent Gers on their way after seven minutes.

He then scored an outstanding second to give them cruising space in 17 minutes.

And when the chips were down - which they were for most of the second half - he was back in the box, shelling clearances and chasing them down like a dog after a rabbit.

Yes, Rangers rode their luck. Yes, United had a stonewall penalty turned down and a perfectly good goal chopped off.

Craig Levein vented his spleen after the game and was well within his rights to do so.

But the bottom line, for Gers anyway, is they are back within a point of the top and keeping the foot to the floor.

Amazingly Walter Smith managed to do that AND preserve some legs ahead of Wednesday's UEFA Cup Final.

He left the influential Steven Davis out of his 18 completely, kept Lee McCulloch and Charlie Adam on the bench as back-up and got by without taxing them.

And Rangers still got the job done.

From the first whistle you could feel the atmosphere lift them. It was like they had suddenly rediscovered their inspiration, the belief they deserved to be where they were.

Chests were puffed out, legs were pumping. Ferguson was snapping into every challenge and in Novo he had a willing accomplice, making every run he could to give his captain an outlet.

The Spaniard's hunger was never better shown than at the opener.

He won the foul out wide, chasing one down with Mark Kerr, then appeared at the back post to finish it off with a great header.

Although quite how Kevin Thomson's inswinger from the left made it past four six-foot-plus pillars in the United defence to reach Novo will have lost Levein some sleep last night.

There was no doubting the quality of the second though.

Again Novo ran down an innocuous-looking Daniel Cousin flick-on, darting in behind Michael Kovacevic inside the box.

He then swivelled his hips and unleashed a magnificent left-foot volley over Lukasz Zaluska that dipped in at the back post.

At that stage you got the sense a real pounding was on the horizon - like the five Gers stuck past United here in Walter Smith's first game back.

Levein must have sensed it too. He always spends the first half of any game in the directors' box but was down in the dugout here after 22 minutes.

And to be fair the Arabs did turn the tide completely. It was easy to forget amid the UEFA euphoria and title traumas that thiswas a massive 90 minutes for United with Europe at stake.

They could have been right back in it before the break - but for Davie Weir at his visionary best. Keeper Neil Alexander diced with death at the edge of his box and sclaffed a clearance right to Davie Robertson.

The midfielder picked his spot, flighted his shot on target but the big centre-half saw the whole thing unfold and was in position to head off the line.

Weir didn't look as clever after the break, though, when he gifted United a dream chance, playing Noel Hunt in with an errant pass.

The striker played a one-two with Mark De Vries, got across his man inside the box and Weir looked like he made serious contact to send him sprawling. But ref Mike McCurry waved play on and sent Levein spiralling into a rage at the injustice - one he probably hasn't yet come out of.

Despite Novo blowing a great chance for a hat-trick when he sliced an effort wide from the left channel and Christian Dailly hitting one off the post, United were right in the game.

And they were denied again when sub Danny Swanson's shot deflected off Weir and past Alexander. It looked good all the way but linesman Stuart MacAulay flagged for offside.

What made him think Robertson was active is anyone's guess - maybe he thought the ball hit the United man - but it was an appalling shout.

That sparked a chain reaction and Cousin was lucky to stay on the park after a headbutt on Lee Wilkie. Both men saw yellow instead but all Levein could see was a red mist.

Eventually United got their just deserts with 14 minutes left, De Vries rising to meet a Danny Grainger cross and send a great header into the far corner.

It's easy to analyse the ifs and buts of what would have happened if Weir had gone and United scored from the penalty.

And the ref did have an absolute howler.

But just to make sure there was no doubt, sub Darcheville put an exclamation mark on the game when he slid home the clincher in injury time.

MATCH STATS

SHOTS ON 3

SHOTS OFF 6

OFFSIDE 5

FOULS 9

CORNERS 2

BOOKINGS 1

SHOTS ON 4

SHOTS OFF 3

OFFSIDE 3

FOULS 21

CORNERS 1

BOOKINGS 3

REF WATCH

MIKE McCURRY avoided the big decisions like the plague, chopped off adecent Arabs goal, missed a punch and a headbutt.

Rating: 3/10.