Rangers 1-0 Dundee: Vaclav Cerny's second-half strike secures narrow Ibrox win

Vaclav Cerny scored the only goal as Rangers beat Dundee and bounced back from their Hampden Park heartache to move up to second in the Scottish Premiership.

Philippe Clement told his Rangers players to forget their League Cup final disappointment as they looked to make it four straight wins in the league to cut the gap on leaders Celtic, until Sunday at least.

With Liam Kelly making his debut in goal after Jack Butland was replaced in the warm-up, they dominated, with Ianis Hagi and James Tavernier striking the bar as they pushed for the opener.

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Cerny timed his run perfectly after the break to latch onto Danilo's flick and round Dundee goalkeeper Trevor Carson to open the scoring, with a lengthy VAR check confirming he was just onside.

Rangers also hit the woodwork twice in the second half and Hamza Igamane's effort was cleared off the line. Dundee refused to give up and Robin Propper did well to hook Simon Murray's ball off the line late on.

Rangers are up to second in the Premiership, eight points behind Celtic, who play Dundee United on Sunday, live on Sky Sports. Dundee remain seventh.

Missed chances as Rangers move up to second

There was a flatness to Ibrox and Rangers' performance at the start of the game, certainly in comparison to the tumult at the national stadium last week.

In the 17th minute Dundee defender Antonio Portales' mistake handed Danilo half a chance at the edge of the Taysiders' penalty area but his low drive was comfortably saved by Carson.

Moments later, as Rangers pressed again, midfielder Ianis Hagi's powerful strike from 30 yards skimmed the visitors' crossbar.

Rangers' probing continued - and some of it was clever - but Dundee defended in depth.

In the 28th minute, after Jefte was tripped 30 yards from goal, Gers skipper James Tavernier crashed the free-kick off the crossbar and had a second attempt following the rebound but the Dee rearguard remained solid, as Cerny found out when his right-footed drive was pushed away to safety by Carson.

Less than a minute into the second half Danilo sent Cerny racing clear and he rounded Carson before slotting into the net and VAR checked confirmed he was onside.

Tavernier headed an Igamane cross past the post before Hagi had the ball in the Dundee net after another break only to be flagged offside which VAR confirmed.

As Dundee pushed forward they left gaps behind.

In the 69th minute, Igamane got through onto a Hagi pass but saw his dinked shot evade Carson only for defender Jordan McGhee to clear the danger.

Then Igamane somehow hit the underside of the bar from six yards from a Nicolas Raskin cut-back, after the midfielder had linked up with substitute Ross McCausland, on for Cerny.

Only a goal down, Dundee were always in the game and every foray inspired anxiety among the Gers fans

In the 83rd minute, Cyriel Dessers replaced Igamane with Hagi making way for Ridvan Yilmaz but it was McCausland who missed a glaring chance in the 90th minute thrashing a shot high over the bar to end a swift counter-attack, before Dessers hit the top of the bar in another swift Gers counter.

Clement: Butland absence 'personal'

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Rangers boss Philippe Clement on Sky Sports News:

"We should have scored more goals.

"It stays dangerous in that way when it's only 1-0. Of course, hitting four times the crossbar in one game is also something special, but we could have done better, scoring more goals and being more efficient in the final third.

"It's a win that you deserve. We had the ball all game, and then it's watching out with the transitions of Dundee. Liam Kelly didn't have to make one save all game. So, it's a well-deserved three points.

"It's for personal reasons that he [Jack Butland] had to leave directly the stadium, so let's keep it personal.

"He will be 200 per cent sure be back for St Mirren, it's a short occasion why he had to leave."

Docherty 'proud' of players

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Dundee manager Tony Docherty speaking to Sky Sports News:

"I'm really proud of that level of performance I got from the players coming against a Rangers team who were really in form, the last two league games they've won 6-0 at home and 3-0 away from home.

"We'd worked a lot during the break on our defensive organisation and I thought it was outstanding.

"The good thing for me is there's a disappointment in the dressing room there. I think that's important.

"As strong as that level of performance is, nobody likes getting beat but to put in that level of performance against a very, very good Rangers team I've got to be proud of the players for doing that.

"I want them to be disappointed that we lost the game but I want to pick as many positives, and there are a lot of positives for us going forward into our next games."

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