Dundee 0
Rangers 1
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Match Report

Dens boss Alex Rae thought his side "did alright" in their 1-0 defeat at the hands of Rangers, but admitted that the result had just about gone the correct way "It was the right result", he said.

"We gave them three or four chances and when you do that to players like Kris Boyd then he's going to take one of them."

Rae explained too why Bobby Mann had been replaced at half time "He was feeling his hip a bit and Saturday is more important, so we brought young Graham Hay on.

"I was always going to make changes in the second half to avoid injuries to players ahead of the weekend."

On trialist Nicola Dragovic, Rae said "He did alright, but we'll assess him further before the weekend, I think he's due to head home on Friday so we'll make a decision before that. I'll see what else we can get in over the next day or so, one or two players may be going out in the next 24 to 48 hours too."

Alex Rae fielded his strongest available side against a Rangers team who included former Dens favourites Nacho Novo and Gavin Rae in their ranks as well as the Premier League's top scorer from last season Kris Boyd, and it was Scotland international striker Boyd who proved the match winner in a game which Rangers just about deserved to win. In addition to their goal they hit the bar twice and Ludovic Roy twice pulled off excellent saves.

In the Dark Blues starting eleven was Italian trialist Nicola Dragovic who partnered Bryan Deasley up front, the 6' 4' striker did OK and was keen to have a shot at goal, but Alex Rae will assess him over the next couple of days before making a decision on whether he'll get an offer to stay at Dens.

Rangers started brightly and the first opportunity of the game came to Boyd who fired straight at Roy after running onto Novo's lay-off in 3 minutes.

Dundee hit back and Dragovic had his first go at goal with a looping header over bar following Ross Harris' cross from the right. Two minutes later the Italian returned the compliment when he laid the ball to Harris, the former Celt's 25 yarders going narrowly over the bar.

Nacho Novo was getting a warmer than he might have liked welcome back from the Dens public but he hushed them when he took the ball past Paul Dixon on the quarter hour, the Spaniard picked out Boyd and he fired a shot off the cross-bar from 12 yards.

Dragovic had another effort blocked in 27 minutes but Kevin McDonald picked up the rebound and his effort from just outside the box was only inches off target with McGregor scrambling to get across his goal.

Dundee were having their best spell of the match and they had the Rangers defence struggling on the half hour as Harris' corner was only half cleared, Gates following up lashed in a low left footer which was blocked and McDonald fired the loose ball just too high.

Seven minutes later Deasley burst forward before feeding the ball to Dragovic and the big striker again showed a willingness tonshoot on sight but hadn't yet found any accuracy. Right on the interval Deasley had the legs whipped from under him by Fan Fan but Paul Dixon's curling free kick was disappointingly high.

Half time saw Graham Hay replace Bobby Mann, the youngster slotting in alongside Gary Mackenzie who had impressed in the first half against his old team.

From the start of the second half Rangers looked more dangerous and in 52 minutes Hamed Namouchi darted down the right before crossing, Boyd racing in looked certain to score but Ludovic Roy denied the hit-man with a close range double stop.

Trialist Dragovic was replaced by Gavin Swankie in 54 minutes but Rangers were now looking the more likely winners and twice in a minute Roy was tested and found to be up to the task, On the hour a fine move from Rangers saw Gavin Rae find Boyd who in turn played in Novo, the little man fired in a low shot which Roy saved well. That stop was eclipsed in quality moments later as Bob Malcolm fired in a vicious dipping shot which Roy did wonderfully well to claw away from the postage stamp corner with his right hand.

A goal was looking likely and it almost came via an ex Dee a minute later as Rangers worked a short corner which ended up at the feet of Gavin Rae his dipping shot rattling the cross bar.

Alex Rae began to take off his vital players ahead off the weekend start of the league campaign with Gary Makenzie and the boss himself the first two to depart in 65 and 66 minutes and a minute after the second of those substitutions came the breakthrough that had been threatening for a while, it was a goal which showed real quality with a great ball over the defence by Novo and a fine finish by Boyd.

A minute later Dundee could have been level as Deasley freed Swankie with a great pass, the former Arbroath man steadied and fired his shot past McGregor but also narrowly wide of the target.

Substitutions were coming thick and fast now and Dundee had several half chances to equalise with the nearest to scoring coming from Andy Ferguson, Gavin Swankie raced down the right and crossed beyond the far post, Ferguson threw himself into the air and fired in an unstoppable volley but it was just too high.

Full time came with Dundee beaten but unbowed, this may have been Rangers second string but it is a side which would comfortably finish in the top half of the SPL, Dundee had matched them for much of the game and go into the competitive campaign in good heart after a promising pre-season.

Match report written by Dundee Matchday Programme