Aasgaard Saves McInnes as Rangers Draw with Dundee United
Thelo Aasgaard spared Derek McInnes a losing start to life as Rangers manager, but only just, as the visitors clawed back a 1-1 draw against Dundee United on the opening night of the Scottish Premiership season.
It was frantic, flawed and, for long spells, deeply uncomfortable for the new man in the away dugout.
Rose strikes first as Rangers labour
Tannadice crackled under the floodlights and it was the home side who seized the moment. Lachlan Rose wrote his name into the season’s first chapter, drilling in the opening goal of the campaign to give United a deserved half-time lead.
Rangers never settled in that first period. They had the ball often enough, but not on their terms. Passes went astray, angles closed, attacks died on the edge of the final third. United snapped into challenges, pressed high and forced the Glasgow side into rushed, anxious decisions.
McInnes prowled the technical area, but control eluded his team. United, sharper and more cohesive, took their advantage into the break and looked ready to punish every mistake.
Aasgaard answers, Rangers rise – then stall
The restart brought a different Rangers. They stepped higher, moved the ball quicker, and finally began to ask questions of the United back line. The pressure told just before the hour.
In the 56th minute, Aasgaard provided the moment McInnes needed. Finding a pocket of space, the attacker finished with real composure, a clean, confident strike that dragged Rangers level and briefly shifted the mood entirely. The away end roared; for the first time all night, it felt like the visitors might impose themselves.
They didn’t.
Rather than folding, United regrouped. The early second-half surge from Rangers faded, the tempo dropped, and the game slipped back into a scrap. Half-chances came and went, but the sustained onslaught McInnes would have wanted never truly materialised.
Randall lets United’s big chance slip
Then came the moment that should have settled it.
With eight minutes left, substitute Daniel Bennie bent a superb, swerving pass in behind the Rangers defence. It split the line, opened the pitch, and sent Jesse Randall racing clean through on goal, the kind of chance players dream about on opening night.
What followed was anything but decisive. Randall hesitated, opting for a delicate dink when conviction was required. The finish floated tamely into the grateful hands of Ivor Pandur, the Rangers goalkeeper barely needing to adjust his feet.
United’s bench sank. Tannadice groaned. A golden opportunity to claim all three points had slipped away with a soft touch.
Rangers, for their part, escaped with something tangible from a night that could easily have ended in defeat. Aasgaard’s equaliser delivered McInnes his first point, but not yet the authority or control he will demand from this side.
The champions, Celtic, begin their defence at home to Dundee on Monday, with last season’s runners-up Hearts heading to Aberdeen on Saturday evening. The season is only just underway, but Rangers already know how fine the margins will be.
