A Jordan Moore inspired United were denied a victory by a late Rangers rally. Moore scored all three but failed with two late chances after the Glasgow team pulled back from 3-1 down. In what was a terrific advert for development football, the crowd were treated in this six goal thriller.
By Peter Rundo
The visitors went ahead after 12 minutes in fortuitous fashion with Jamie Brandon’s deflected effort deceiving United keeper Marc McCallum.
Midway through the half, United levelled courtesy of a horrendous blunder by visiting keeper Kieran Wright as his fresh air clearance let Jordan Moore in to stroke the ball home.
Five minutes after the restart, the Tangerines took the lead and again Moore was on target, heading home an Ali Coote corner.
Rangers then survived two let-offs with Wright making up for his earlier lapse by denying both Moore and Johnson, but conceded a third after 63 minutes as Moore completed his hat-trick in style, firing high into the net from the edge of the box.
With 14 minutes left, Dylan Dykes reduced the leeway from the penalty spot and seven minutes later substitute Ross Lyon latched on a long ball to equalise.
Dundee United: McCallum, Morris (Tumilty 65), H Souttar, Trialist, Spark (Taylor 73), Ballantyne, B Smith, Robson, Coote (Adeyemo 84), Johnson, Moore.
Subs not used: Booth, Davie, Duke, Allardice.