McLeish warning to below-par players after defeat by Dundee

RANGERS manager Alex McLeish has told his under-performing stars that they may have played themselves out of next week's Old Firm Tennent's Scottish Cup clash.

Dundee United 2 Rangers 0

Only goalkeeper Stefan Klos can be regarded as a certain starter at Parkhead next Sunday following the 2-0 defeat at Dundee United.

It was another disappointing trip for the Rangers faithful, who had previously seen defeat at Dunfermline and points dropped at Motherwell, Livingston and Aberdeen.

With Celtic now 16 points clear, Rangers' season rests on Sunday's quarter-final, giving McLeish just seven days to sort out a team in disarray.

He said: "All I will say is that there are players who didn't play today who are available for next week and will have a chance of playing after that performance. Nobody in the outfield today can say they did themselves justice. I will make changes without any explanation and I don't think any player can come and knock on my door."

Captain Craig Moore became an added headache for McLeish when he suffered a dead leg near the end and had to play on.

McLeish said: "It depends on his recovery from that. We couldn't take him off as the substitutes were already on." United manager Ian McCall was delighted with his team's performance, particularly the younger players.

Midfielder Mark Kerr had opened the scoring, Mark Wilson was voted man of the match and David McCracken was also impressive at the back. He said: "As a team I thought some of the players came of age today. There is a long, long way to go before we get to where we want to go but it is a terrific result for us. It is not often you beat the Old Firm and we are delighted to do it."

McCall also argued that recent performances against Celtic and Hearts had also been good but without reward. He said: "I think we have been playing well recently at very hard places, like Celtic Park and Tynecastle, and we played the same today."

Andy McLaren bundled home the second soon after Kerr's opener and was denied before half-time when a shot that was deflected off Frank de Boer hit the crossbar.

Rangers goalkeeper Klos denied Barry Robson in stoppage time with a save McCall felt he should not have been allowed to make.

He said: "I'm just a bit disappointed because in the second half if we had just a little bit more care with the final pass we could maybe have picked them off and scored one or two more. Barry Robson, who was otherwise outstanding, should have scored at the end."

DUNDEE UTD: Gallacher, Wilson, Innes, McCracken, Archibald, McLaren, Kerr, McInnes, Robson, Miller, McIntyre.

RANGERS: Klos, Ricksen, Moore, Frank de Boer, Ball, Capucho, Arteta (Thompson 45), Emerson (Ross 45), Nerlinger (Rae 57), Ronald de Boer, Mols.

Referee: J Underhill (Scotland).