Rangers make it nine in a row

RANGERS last night secured the result which gave them their ninth successive championship and released their supporters from the shackles of doubt that had immobilised them since Monday's defeat by Motherwell.

Brian Laudrup scored the early goal which eased the pressure but Paul Gascoigne, who surprisingly started and almost finished the match, deserved his ovation on a night when he paraded the full range of his talents.

Nobody expected anything other than a night of energetic commitment, with the near-certainty of excitement around the goal areas, and that was precisely what the players produced.

Rangers took the lead after only 11 minutes and if that may have been mildly surprising the identity of the scorer was not. Laudrup has been their most significant contributor throughout the season and when he is afforded the kind of opportunity he got from Charlie Miller he rarely makes a mistake.

But Laudrup was to stun the crowd a little later with a contender for miss of the year.

Miller, returning to the first team in place of Jorg Albertz after a lengthy absence, took possession on the left and delivered a centre which was perfectly weighted and at the optimum height. Laudrup bulleted the header past Sieb Dykstra from 10 yards. The Dane had observers wondering if it was his first headed goal for the Ibrox side, as such an event failed to ring any bells.

Although play was generally even, Rangers created more chances in the first half. Dykstra had to save from Gordon Durie and then pushed the ball magnificently over the bar when Miller unleashed a drive from 18 yards after Laudrup's corner from the right had been cleared to him.

Laudrup's goal was sandwiched between those incidents and his extraordinary miss came soon afterwards. Miller was again the provider, sending the Dane clear with only Dykstra to beat. Laudrup took the ball past the goalkeeper as Erik Pedersen back-tracked and then struck it against the Norwegian's leg.

That was extraordinary enough but Paul Gascoigne followed up and did the same thing, Pedersen, scrambling across the six-yard box to make the deflection.

United had come close only once in the same period when Gary McSwegan chased a through-ball into the box and Andy Dibble had to push the ball away from his feet. It came out to Stewart McKimmie on the left and his cross might have found the net had not Alan McLaren arrived to head the ball away.

It was an indication of the breathlessness of the match that five players - Rangers' Laudrup, McLaren, Craig Moore and Gordan Petric and United's Lars Zetterlund - were cautioned in an eight-minute period in the middle of the first half.

United began to feel the pace and faltered during the second half as Rangers were sustained by their own ambition. It was something of a wonder that the visitors were not further ahead. Gascoigne. clearly enjoying himself. was allowed the advantage after Pressley had handled Durie's cross and a quick burst took him to the edge of the box, from where he drove the ball against a post.