SODDEN turf equated to lost ground in the title race for Rangers yesterday when a Tayside torrent forced an intriguingly balanced contest with Dundee United to be called off at half-time.
Referee Mike Tumilty had little option but to rule against play resuming for the second half and his decision met with no opposition from either club's manager. There was a significant level of frustration for Walter Smith and his players, however,
as they led the match 1-0 through a Steven Davis goal and were on course to move back to within a point of Celtic at the top of the table.
Any relief felt by United, meanwhile, would be tempered by the knowledge they had dominated much of the play which was possible. In truth, this was developing into a far more entertaining spectacle than might have been imagined on a playing surface which held up well before the increase in rainfall forced Tumilty to abandon proceedings.
Craig Levein's team were certainly entitled to nurse a mild sense of bewilderment at falling behind in a 45 minutes which saw them generally look the more threatening team, striking the frame of the Rangers goal twice.
The treacherous underfoot conditions ensured there would be no shortage of set-piece opportunities and the home side were unfortunate not to cash in on at least one of the free-kicks Rangers conceded in dangerous positions.
Craig Conway, whose dead-ball delivery is among the best in the SPL, created United's first chance when he whipped the ball in from the left with pace and swerve. Danny Wilson could only clear it as far as Garry Kenneth who nodded back across the penalty area to Mihael Kovacevic. The defender's looping header had the beating of Allan McGregor but the ball rebounded to safety off the crossbar.
While Rangers' central defensive pairing of David Weir and Wilson, with a 22-year age gap between them, looked solid enough, United continued to forge openings down the flanks. Damian Casalinuovo should have headed them in front after 20 minutes when he was picked out by Dixon's terrific cross but the unmarked Argentine striker wastefully directed his close range header wide of McGregor's left-hand post.
Jennison Myrie-Williams then carved Rangers open down the right, weaving his way past Kyle Lafferty and Sasa Papac to force his way into the penalty area. The English winger swept the ball back into the path of Prince Buaben on the edge of the 18-yard box and the midfielder should have done better than send a rising shot over the crossbar.
As United continued to dominate, Steven Whittaker made a tremendous last-ditch intervention to deny David Goodwillie a close range shooting chance, the tackle appearing even more spectacular because of the water spraying in all directions as it was made.
Rangers had threatened only briefly at the other end, Lafferty's stabbed shot wide of Nicky Weaver's right-hand post the closest they came before Davis put them in front. Although it was against the general run of play, it did come at the conclusion of a series of three successive corners earned by Smith's team.
Davis delivered the last of them from the right, the United defence clearing the ball only as far as Papac some 25 yards out. The defender showed great awareness to loft a pass over the advancing United defenders and into the path of Davis who had stayed onside in the penalty area. The Northern Ireland internationalist drove a low, right-foot shot first time beyond Weaver.
Lafferty earned the derision of the home supporters when he went down under a challenge from Kovacevic in the penalty area. The conditions may have played a part, but it was inevitably interpreted as a dive with United defender Garry Kenneth racing across to remonstrate furiously with Lafferty.
United came close to an equaliser in the 39th minute when Wilson was penalised for a challenge on Conway some 25 yards out. Dixon curled the ball up and over the defensive wall and looked on in anguish as it struck the crossbar with McGregor looking on helplessly.
Wilson had cleared the ball off the line after a Conway corner sparked a melee in the Rangers six-yard box, but the champions were growing as an attacking force and it required a fine save from Weaver to prevent Whittaker doubling his team's lead in what proved to be the final attack of the day in first-half stoppage time.
Dundee Utd: Weaver; Kovacevic, Dods, Kenneth, Dixon; Myrie-Williams, Gomis, Buaben, Conway; Casalinuovo, Goodwillie. Subs not used: Banks, Dillon, Cadamarteri, Swanson, D.Robertson, Fotheringham, Shala.
Rangers: McGregor; Whittaker, Weir, Wilson, Papac; Naismith, Davis, Thomson, Lafferty; Boyd, Miller. Subs not used: Alexander, Novo, Rothen, Beasley, Smith, Fleck, McMillan.