IT was third time lucky for Rangers at Ibrox as they recorded their first home league win of the campaign with a 4-1 success against Dundee.
Goals in either half from Alfredo Morelos and Josh Windass were enough to clinch a comfortable victory over Dundee before a Carlos Pena strike and second for Morelos added a shine to the scoreline.
Pedro Caixinha’s side dropped five crucial points when Hibernian and Hearts made the trip to Glasgow last month. But there was no slip-up here as the Gers followed up the win over Ross County with another important three points.
Caixinha stuck with the starting line-up that were victorious in the Highlands before the international break as the Gers looked to get a key few weeks off on the right foot.
The Portuguese saw his side start brightly as Morelos headed a Daniel Candeias free-kick over the bar before Kenny Miller was denied after he collected a neat pass from Ryan Jack.
It was Niko Kranjcar who had the best chance of the opening stages, though. Keeper Wes Foderingham found Candeias with a well-directed long ball and the winger had to wait for attacking reinforcements to arrive in the final third. He picked out Kranjcar at the back post and keeper Scott Bain saved well.
Just minutes later, the Croatian curled a shot just wide of target as Rangers got closer to breaking the deadlock.
The next two chances fell to Morelos as he fired over from the edge of the area and was then denied by Bain after Kranjcar’s pass breached the Dundee defence.
Neil McCann’s side had offered little attacking threat as they struggled to assert themselves as a force in the game but they did compete well. The same cannot be said for Scott Allan, though, with the midfielder replaced seven minutes before the break after an ineffectual showing that infuriated his boss.
The visitors would have hoped to get through to the break with the score still level but the opening goal finally came for Rangers just before the interval.
It was Morelos that got it as he latched onto a neat flick from Candeias and unleashed a low shot that Bain couldn’t keep out.
The Gers started the second half on the front foot and Caixinha made his first change as Windass returned to action in place of Kranjcar on the left flank.
The midfielder could have doubled Rangers’ lead on the hour mark but he fed Miller instead before the striker saw his shot saved. Keeper Bain then got a hand to a Candeias effort as Dundee survived a double scare.
It was the end of the afternoon for Miller as Pena was given a chance to finally show what he can do in Light Blue. Just seconds after his arrival, he directed a header towards goal that Bain snatched from under his bar.
Rangers needed the second goal to settle any nerves at Ibrox but it almost arrived at the wrong end for Caixinha as a penalty box scramble ended up with a Kerr Waddell header going just wide of the target.
That near miss was to prove costly for Dundee and soon their chance was gone as Windass met a teasing cross from Candeias and headed the ball beyond Bain to clinch the win.
The closing stages were comfortable for Rangers and there were two further reasons to celebrate as Pena got his first goal following his summer switch from Chivas and Morelos continued his fine scoring form.
Windass worked space down the left and the Mexican kept his composure to collect the ball and fire a shot beyond Bain.
There was little the Dees keeper could do on that occasion, but he won’t want to see the fourth again as Morelos somehow beat him from a tight angle with just minutes remaining.
It wasn’t a perfect afternoon for the Gers, however, as Dundee got themselves a late consolation through Faissal El Bakhtaoui. The striker picked his spot from the edge of the area and beat Wes Foderingham but it counted for little in the final reckoning.
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