THERE were a series of missed points at Ibrox on Saturday.

The most painful for Rangers were the three that were lost to an inventive and energetic Dundee United side.

But there were others that were not grasped by many of the observers. It is impossible to discuss Rangers without reference to off-field matters so it is perhaps better to examine the context of the match before reflecting on what happened on the park.

The injunctions of a section of fans for Craig Whyte, the club’s prospective buyer, to step up and pay up is perhaps forgivable given the demands on the patience of the Ibrox support but they owe little to reality.

The Scottish businessman can hardly be blamed for treading carefully when a £2.8m tax bill is found in the financial equivalent of a bottom drawer where a pile of congealed wine gums should normally reside.

Similarly, the reporting of Whyte’s meeting with the Rangers board would suggest it amounted to a kind of vetting process, an examination the man’s credentials before he ties the knot with the blushing balance book.

But Whyte is the only game in town and the Rangers board knows it. If he finally reaches a deal with Lloyds Banking Group and Sir David Murray, the club is his without any reference to what money he has for player investment.

This takes us to another missed point. The defeat of Rangers was seen as further evidence of a team “down to the bare bones”. Yet the champions started the match with nine internationalists, with only Richard Foster and Gregg Wylde not capped by their country. The problem was that Rangers ended the match with the same team.

Walter Smith had no one available to change or consolidate his approach. His bench comprised Neil Alexander, John Fleck, Jamie Ness, Kyle Hutton and Salim “Slim” Kerkar. Slim pickings, indeed. Frankly, the promising Wylde would in normal circumstances have been replaced after an hour and Maurice Edu, enduring a wretched season, would have followed him. Ness, presumably, is not yet ready to play and was merely making up the numbers.

This lack of room for manoeuvre undoubtedly hampered Rangers but Smith unerringly pointed to the failings that proved fatal to garnering the three points that would have taken his side to the top of the league. Dismissing takeover speculation as a factor, he said the “problem” was “that when we have managed to get in front we have been pegged back all too easily”.

Rangers have lost 13 goals at home this season, the same amount as St Johnstone. The champions have also conceded 10 more goals overall in the league than the much-maligned Celtic defence.

The story of Saturday was that United did not have many chances but they took them. David Goodwillie’s excellent take on his chest and smart pass allowed the admirable Danny Swanson to evade both David Weir and Steven Whittaker before slotting a pass through for David Roberston to finish. Johnny Russell’s dramatic header for the second equaliser was made straightforward by a wonderful ball from Paul Dixon and the inability of Rangers to pick up his run, with Sasa Papac arriving late.

The winner was a dreadful concession. When Steven Davis and Foster conspired to lose the ball it was then a straight run on goal for Goodwillie, with Craig Conway riding shotgun.

There were mutterings about the referee, Steve Conroy, and his assistants, with Smith striding from his technical area in anger at what he deemed an unpunished foul on Nikica Jelavic. The officiating was typically Caledonian comic but it had an impact on United as much as Rangers. For example, the obvious foul on Jelavic that led to the first goal seemed to be missed by Conroy and picked up by his assistant.

The other missed points included the observation that, despite United’s confidence in possession, Rangers had enough chances to win the match. This was helped by a United defence that at a distance seemed so small they could have spent an afternoon at Alton Towers without being allowed on a ride. Sean Dillon and Dixon, both accomplished players, combined to form the very definition of the phrase “makeshift central defence”.

Any time the ball was put into the air the visitors seemed on the brink of losing a goal. Jelavic’s header for the first may have been the product of a breakdown of the zonal marking system but United could not defend the high ball and Steven Naismith’s volley for the hosts’ second was a direct result of United being unable to compete in the air.

However, Rangers had enough chances to win comfortably, with crosses just eluding Jelavic and El-Hadji Diouf’s neat flick being well saved by Dusan Pernis. The main point, though, is that two goals at home should be enough to garner three points. It was not enough on Saturday to prise even one.

The newspapers and airwaves will be preoccupied this week with Whyte’s advance on Rangers but Smith will be consumed by matters of defence on the field when his side travels to St Johnstone and Hamilton.