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Published: 8th May 2022
United headed to Glasgow for the fifth and final time of the 2021/22 season to face second-placed Europa League finalists Rangers.
The Terrors’ last victory in Govan came eight years ago when goals from Stuart Armstrong, Gary Mackay-Steven and Nadir Çiftçi secured a 3-1 Scottish Cup Semi-Final victory.
The headline change to the United XI which defeated Motherwell last Saturday was that Ghanaian U21 international Mathew Cudjoe-Anim was awarded his first start for the club by Gaffer Tam Courts.
The visitors posed an early threat on the counter, looking to exploit the pace of Cudjoe-Anim and Adrian Sporle. However, these were cautious forays forward as over committing bodies up the pitch would leave gaps for Rangers to exploit, with Sakala darting in behind twice in the opening ten minutes. First he caught a lost cause beside the by-line and pulled it back to Arfield standing unmarked in the area. The Canadian jinked beyond the challenge of Smith before trying to find the far corner but Steven Davis of all people was on hand to prevent the hosts going ahead as he blocked the ball inside the six-yard area. Sakala then collected a misplaced pass from Charlie Mulgrew and raced into the box despite the best efforts of Liam Smith, only to be denied by a fabulous, diving save from Benji Siegrist.
Rangers managed to work the ball up to the United box with relative ease, as Borna Barisic and James Tavernier advanced from full-back to double up on the isolated Sporle and Smith with their respective wingers of Sakala and Scott Wright. Dylan Levitt and Archie Meekison struggled to close them down as they already had their hands full with the Glasgow sides’ midfield trio, and therefore Tony Watt was forced to cover an incredible amount of ground as a one-man press.
With 17 minutes down another outstanding save from Siegrist kept the deadlock unbroken. Barisic’s defence-splitting pass from deep reached the feet of Arfield, and the midfielder executed a sharp one-two with the help of Davis before striking low across goal, the United stopper throwing himself to the left to beat the ball to safety.
The best chance of the half fell to the man who threatened Courts’ men the most, Sakala. Conor Goldson’s clipped pass dropped over the defence to the Zambian who killed it dead with his first touch before turning inside Smith to buy time and space for the shot but failed to find the target with his left-footed effort, a huge let-off for United.
At the interval, veteran Kevin McDonald was introduced to the midfield as Lewis Neilson was withdrawn, leading to Mulgrew dropping back into the back four.
Substitute Amad Diallo had the first shot of the second half, sliding a left-footed effort through a ruck of bodies and just past the upright.
Siegrist’s gloves were re-heated by Sakala after a sweeping move from right to left involving Tavernier, Diallo and Arfield. The 25-year-old received on the left of the area and whipped the ball towards the corner but the strike was beaten to relative safety by a confident keeper.
With 54 minutes down Rangers were awarded a penalty for the second time in as many games against United at Ibrox. Aaron Ramsey scooped the ball over the top for Sakala who nicked it away from Siegrist before being upended by the Terrors’ number one. Skipper Tavernier stepped up and converted to the right top corner to give his side a one-goal advantage.
Sakala continued to terrorise the United defence, this time seeing his shot deflected behind for a corner by Ryan Edwards following a 30-yard run from Diallo down the right.
A rare chance for United came when Watt rose above Leon King to glance the ball forward for substitute Nicky Clark to latch onto. The former Rangers striker bore down on goal but sent his shot into the side-netting under pressure from Goldson.
Goldson almost gifted United an equaliser when he stroked the ball backwards towards Jon McLaughlin without looking, and the defender hadn’t realised his colleague had strayed to the side of his goal. The Gers keeper just managed to recover to prevent a mishap as he raced across his line to toe the pass away from danger.
Rangers wrapped up the points with 12 minutes to play as the visitors were architects of their own downfall. An unforced error saw a United man inadvertently play the ball straight to Sakala who had Alex Lowry to his left and Diallo to his right in a two-on-three scenario. The winger chose the latter and Man United loanee Diallo calmly lofted the ball over the onrushing Siegrist to secure victory for Giovanni van Bronkhorst’s men.
A bad day at the office for a passive United who failed to impose themselves on the game. Next up, the other half of the Old Firm travel to Tayside as we look to stamp our name on one of the remaining European places.
