A dreadful mistake by Rangers defender Lorenzo Amoruso gifted Dundee United an equaliser from their only shot of a half which unbelievably ended 1-1.

New signing Derek Lilley was the United scorer, cancelling out Claudio Reyna's opener - all Rangers had to show from 14 corners and 45 minutes of domination.

Claudio Reyna smashed Rangers into an 18th-minute lead as they dominated the opening exchanges.

There had been a scare for United in the fifth minute when Ronald de Boer's corner was headed back towards goal by Jamie Buchan and Alan Combe had to punch away under pressure from Michael Mols.

Rangers forced five corners in a two-minute spell but could make nothing of them.

Barry Ferguson sent de Boer away and Mols threw himself forward to get a header on target but it went straight at Combe.

The same trio combined superbly again with de Boer feeding the ball from the right, Mols flicking the ball into the skipper's path and his shot was just over.

In the 13th minute Rangers almost went ahead when Tony Vidmar let fly and saw his shot deflected by a defender onto the top of the bar.

Keeper Combe was all at sea when the corner came in but the bounce was lucky for him and he was able to punch clear straight away.

It was all Rangers, with eight corners coming in the first quarter of an hour.

Neil McCann was seeing a lot of the ball on the other flank but was having trouble with his delivery.

But he was involved in the opening goal when his cross was laid back by Mols for Reyna to smash past Combe.

Former United hero Billy Dodds had been handed his first league start for Rangers since the 2-1 defeat at St Johnstone on October 21, with Kenny Miller dropping down to the bench.

Lorenzo Amoruso returned from suspension, with Arthur Numan heading the other way through the door marked banned.

Vidmar took the Dutchman's place and there was no sign at all of Scott Wilson, who had been one third of a three-man defence since the 3-0 home defeat by Kilmarnock on October 28. Rangers began instead with a flat back four.

As for bottom club United, with only one win all season, they gave a debut to Lilley, the ex-Morton and Leeds striker who has signed from Oxford.

It was also the first time Charlie Miller had taken the field against his former club in a much-hyped attempt to prove Dick Advocaat had been wrong to pack him off to Watford last season.

Craig Easton was suspended and John McQuillan and Jim Hamilton made way for the returns of David McCracken and David Partridge.

McCann sent in a curling cross, and although it looked as though Jason de Vos had headed away before Mols could pounce a goal-kick was given.

McCann was being allowed plenty of room on the left by McCracken, who seemed reluctant to stay too close to the winger - and when de Vos put a foot in to rob Dodds Vidmar smashed the loose ball over the bar.

Reyna played a ball that might have seen Amoruso charging into United territory, but the defender must have been too excited and lost control of the ball.

Jim Lauchlan did well to nick the ball away from Mols in the box, and then from a free-kick near the touchline de Boer hit the top of the bar.

Mols tried to send McCann through, and Lauchlan had to slide in to clear - colliding with Combe as he did so. Vidmar headed the corner over.

In the 33rd minute United scored with their first shot of the game - directly from an Amoruso error.

The Italian tried to clear, but his hoof was blocked by Beto Naveda and fell into Lilley's path.

The new boy wasted no time thumping the ball past Stefan Klos for a debut goal.

Amoruso could have made amends four minutes later when Vidmar headed on de Boer's corner - but the Italian headed over from close range.

At the other end, a short back-pass from Amoruso almost let Lilley in.

McCann won Rangers' 14th corner - while United had managed one shot, one corner ... and one goal.

Naveda was injured in a collision with team-mate Hasney Aljofree and was carried off with what looked a serious ankle injury a minute before half-time, to be replaced by Hamilton.