Rangers came from to beat Dundee United to claim their first away win of 2025 in the Scottish Premiership, but it wasn’t without controversy.
With the victory guaranteed, Mohamed Diomande was shown a straight red card in stoppage-time after clashing with Kevin Holt, although it was unclear what the exact offence was. Referee Nick Walsh was called to the monitor only to stick to his on-field decision, much to the dismay of the Rangers bench.
Sam Dalby had given United a dream start as he fired in his 11th league goal of the season to put them ahead only for Diomande to fire in a brilliant equaliser before half-time.
Rangers completed the turnaround after the break when Robin Propper’s shot deflected off Holt and into the net with Cyriel Dessers making sure of the win shortly after he had a goal ruled out for offside.
Their first away win in four games moves them to within 10 points of leaders Celtic, albeit having played a game more, while Dundee United remain in third.
A win on the road for Rangers
Rangers had fallen behind on seven previous occasions in the league, drawing three and losing four, but they proved too strong for Jim Goodwin’s third-placed United.
The visitors almost fell behind in the fourth minute when Dalby headed a Ryan Strain corner against the post before Rangers skipper James Tavernier hooked the ball away to safety.
The next real goalmouth action came in the 16th minute when visiting keeper Jack Butland was forced into a fine save from Luca Stephenson’s drive from distance before Dalby headed wide.
However, Dalby, whose loan from Wrexham will go onto the end of the season, pounced after the Rangers defence failed miserably to deal with a long throw from Will Ferry, forcing the ball high past Butland from 10 yards to take his tally to 11 for the season.
Rangers equalised when Diomande took a pass from Tavernier and drilled a shot from the edge of the box through a clutch of tangerine jerseys and in at the far post past keeper Jack Walton.
United remained dangerous and Butland made a point-blank save from Dalby following a cross from Strain, while Walton made saves from Dessers and Nedim Bajrami to finish the first half.
Rangers took the lead four minutes after the restart when, following a corner, the unmarked Propper took a pass from Hagi inside the Terrors’ box, turned and shot with the ball coming off Holt and past the helpless Walton, for his second goal for the club.
Moments later, Dessers was through with only Walton to beat but the United keeper held firm.
Walton made a good save from Hamza Igamane’s curled shot from the edge of the box before Rangers midfielder Nicolas Raskin turned a Dalby cross against his own post, with the visitors escaping.
Goodwin’s side pushed bodies forward leaving gaps.
Dessers had the ball in the United net from a Bajrami pass but the offside flag was correctly raised.
However, the Nigeria striker flashed a shot from a pass from substitute Zak Lovelace high past Walton in the 86th minute to seal the win.
Diomande hit the post but was then sent packing by referee Walsh after tangling with Holt, the official sticking with his original decision after looking at his pitchside monitor at the behest of his VAR.
‘We will appeal’
Rangers manager Philippe Clement speaking to Sky Sports:
“I totally don’t understand. We’re going to appeal it also as a club.
“The VAR was clearly also in that opinion, otherwise, they don’t ask the referee to come to the screen.
“My opinion is clearly it’s totally not a red card. If that’s a red card, then every game there will be three, four, five red cards.
“I think my player gets attacked in that moment and gets pushed and he has a small reaction with his hand without even touching the opponent.
“They can have both maximum yellow, but giving a red card for that? That’s incredible.”
Should Diomande have been sent off?
Here is what the Sky Sports’ pundits said about the stoppage time decision.
Kris Boyd:
“Embarrassing. I think sometimes when you go to the monitor you can be too stubborn.
“Sometimes you’ve just got to admit you got it wrong and Nick Walsh should have. There is no excessive force, there’s no brutality.
“I think it’s a little bit inconclusive, even if he slaps them.
“There is no excessive force in that. There’s no brutality at all. I mean, I cannot understand.
“Nick Walsh is right there and from his angle it might look as if he’s caught him. It’s inconclusive.
“I’m watching it about 40 times here and we’re still arguing about it, which tells us that it’s not inconclusive.
Chris Sutton:
“In Dundee and Glasgow would you say that that’s violent conduct? I’m not so sure, but what I would say you can’t slap people in the face. You just can’t do that.
“He does slap. I think he does catch him. Nick Walsh was right on the spot there so I just think, while we can criticise Nick Walsh, I think that the player has to show discipline himself and now, you know, he’s going to miss a couple of games.
“You can’t just go around slapping people.
“If you don’t send him off for that, you’re just saying all games should be a free-for-all.”
‘We’ll pick ourselves up’
Dundee United boss Jim Goodwin on Sky Sports:
“The scoreline could have been a lot different.
“We’ve hit the woodwork three times here today, albeit one of those was offside. Rangers showed the threat that they’ve got, a couple of great finishes as well.
“We have to pick ourselves up now because we’ve got another difficult one next weekend.”