Dundee0

Rangers2

Scorers: Capucho (6), Ball (35)

AND so let the madness begin. With Dundee dispatched yesterday Rangers can turn their attention to the make-or-break Old Firm game at Parkhead on Saturday.

Eight points behind league leaders Celtic is not a position Alex McLeish would want his men to be in but he will be happy his under-pressure side are still grinding out results.

It would be wrong to describe the events at Dens Park as a warm-up to the main event but the Rangers manager will have learned a few lessons from his 90 minutes on Tayside.

His side are looking in reasonably good form and are playing with a renewed creative confidence, mainly because of the form of Mikel Arteta and young Chris Burke.

However, the one obvious negative which was evident yesterday was their work ethic, which seems to be based round the festive idea of getting the work done early and then going home.

They started superbly but then flattered to deceive for long periods. Their afternoon of inconsistency was summed up with a minute left when substitute Paolo Vanoli missed a simple chance when one-on-one with Julian Speroni.

Rangers had gone two goals up in only 35 minutes, the first coming after a magnificent sweeping move which was finished off by Nuno Capucho.

However, they switched off at key times thereafter and Dundee could and should have scored at least once. It is that lingering malaise which McLeish will have to deal with, though on yesterday's performance things aren't as black at Ibrox as is being suggested. Maybe a shade of grey is more the order of the day.

Afterwards, McLeish confirmed he was still in discussions with the administrators running Dundee to bring Gavin Rae, who missed the game with a hamstring injury, to Ibrox.

He denied his side were being miserly in offering a reported (pounds) 125,000 for the services of the Dundee midfielder.

''Everybody has problems and it always seems to be Rangers' fault when this sort of thing arises,'' said McLeish. ''When I was at Hibs we lost Didier Agathe [to Celtic] for (pounds) 50,000 and what is he worth now? We still have to speak to Gavin and his representatives and there is still work to be done.''

Jim Duffy responded by claiming the administrators running Dundee, who have debts totalling (pounds) 20m, were holding out for the highest price for the player and an English Premiership club and a first division team, believed to be Wigan, were also in for him.

He was critical of the way the Ibrox club had opened negotiations by tabling a bid of (pounds) 50,000 but described discussions now as ''amicable''.

A decision on the player's future is expected to be made within the next 48 hours with Rangers still favourites to win his signature.

As to the importance of the win over Dundee and the upcoming game against Celtic, McLeish said: ''I never mentioned the gap between us and Celtic to the players before the Dundee game although I'm sure it would have been at the back of their minds. It was important for us not to lose any ground so it was an important win. Celtic will be favourites next Saturday but we hope to surprise them.''

They will be boosted going into that game by the return of Craig Moore and Christian Nerlinger from injury, both of whom took part in this match.

In attack McLeish has two wingers in Burke and Peter Lovenkrands who can get past most defences but he also has an insipid forward line which seems unable to take advantage of the openings they make. Michael Mols was missing yesterday with a hamstring injury and Capucho did his usual impression of a man who thinks he is better than he is.

In saying that, his goal after six minutes was a thing of

beauty. Shota Arveraldze released Burke out on the right and the youngster, who was, along with Moore, one of Rangers' best players, put in a curling cross which evaded the Dundee defence and allowed the Portuguese striker to head home.

The second goal from Rangers left both Lee Wilkie and Michael Ball embarrassed. The Englishman put in a curling free-kick which was decent but not too difficult to defend.

Up went big Wilkie ahead of Lovenkrands and he seemed to get the faintest of touches to deflect the ball past Speroni. As Wilkie, who scored an own goal and gave away two penalties the last time Rangers were at Dens Park, held his head in his hands, Ball simply walked back to the halfway line.

It certainly wasn't a goal worth celebrating but if Ball had known it was to be one of the few moments to savour for the Rangers support he would have probably reacted differently. ''I don't score many goals so I'm claiming it,'' joked Ball afterwards, and Wilkie won't argue with him on that one.

For Dundee, Lee Mair hit a post, Nacho Novo brought a great save out of Stefan Klos and Barry Smith had a few long-range efforts as they carved out some decent chances.

It was a plucky performance from a team you have to feel increasingly sorry for. Sadly, the name of Tom Burton, the club's administrator, is becoming better known than many members of their first-team squad, with Duffy's substitutes' bench full of untried and unknown teenagers.

''We were chasing shadows for the first 20 minutes but once we settled down we did okay,'' said Duffy. ''They had Craig Moore back who was magnificent in defence and who organised everything. Although we showed a lot of endeavour we had no real punch.''

Rangers will be more severely tested on Saturday but things are slowly getting better for the Ibrox club after a sticky few weeks.

Certainly, the key against Celtic could be the ability of their wide players to get in behind the Parkhead defence but whether they have the strikers to take advantage of that remains to be seen.

On the evidence at Dens Park, Rangers still have a long way to go to get back to the form which will see them claw back the gap on Martin O'Neill's side.