Rangers Manager McInnes Earns Draw in Opening Match
Thelo Aasgaard spared Derek McInnes a losing start to life as Rangers manager, dragging his new side to a 1-1 draw at Tannadice after Dundee United had threatened to spoil the opening night of the Scottish Premiership season.
McInnes’ first competitive game in charge began with all the unease of a new era still finding its feet. Rangers were slack on the ball, short of rhythm and repeatedly second-best in the key duels. United sensed it immediately.
Lachlan Rose wrote his name into the season’s record books with the first goal of the campaign, and he did it with the kind of conviction Rangers badly lacked before the interval. United broke with purpose, Rose timing his run and finish to perfection as the home crowd roared into life. Rangers, by contrast, looked stuck between old habits and new instructions.
The visitors struggled to control possession, their midfield loose and disjointed. Passes went astray, attacks broke down early, and every turnover seemed to give United another chance to surge forward. McInnes prowled the technical area, but his side could not wrestle the game into their grip.
The restart changed the mood. Rangers emerged sharper, quicker to the ball, finally playing in United’s half rather than merely glancing at it. The pressure began to build. Crosses started to land in dangerous areas, second balls fell to blue shirts, and the tempo lifted.
The breakthrough arrived on 56 minutes, and it came with a touch of real quality. Aasgaard, one of the brighter sparks in Rangers’ attack, found space and finished with composure that had been missing from his team all evening. His strike, crisp and assured, dragged Rangers level and briefly tilted the contest their way.
For a spell, it looked like the equaliser would turn into a platform. Rangers pushed higher, their full-backs joining in, their forwards sniffing at a winner. United, who had controlled the first half so confidently, suddenly found themselves pinned back.
Then the game flipped again. United steadied. The early-season chaos ebbed, the home side tightened their lines and began to break Rangers’ momentum. The match, once open and frantic, grew more cagey. One mistake, one lapse, felt decisive.
That moment almost belonged to Jesse Randall.
With eight minutes left, substitute Daniel Bennie bent a superb, swerving pass in behind the Rangers defence. It split the line, and Randall was away, clean through on goal with the match there to be claimed. Tannadice held its breath.
What followed will haunt him. Rather than driving his finish with authority, the New Zealand winger tried a delicate dink, a finish for the highlight reel rather than the scoreboard. It floated tamely into the waiting hands of goalkeeper Ivor Pandur, a chance of three points dissolving in an instant.
United had their opening. They let it slip. Rangers, for all their second-half improvement, could not manufacture one as clear.
McInnes walks away with a point and a first glimpse of the scale of the task in front of him. Aasgaard’s sharp finish offers encouragement; the ragged first half and the lack of control for long stretches offer a warning.
On Monday night, Celtic begin their title defence at home to Dundee. Hearts, last season’s runners-up, head to Aberdeen on Saturday evening. Rangers have their first point on the board, but on this evidence, the real questions about their season are only just beginning.
