Rangers' chances of retaining the title they won so handsomely last season receded ever further on Sunday with a most disappointing draw against bottom club Dundee United.

It had seemed as though Claudio Reyna's early opener would be the first goal in a landslide, such was the ease with which the visitors dominated play against a side that looked relegation fodder.

But no one was thinking like that by the final whistle, with United deserving to hang on to a point that had been gifted to them by Lorenzo Amoruso.

It was the Italian whose error had let in Derek Lilley for an equaliser that had not even been remotely threatened.

As well as levelling the score, Lilley's goal gave the home side with enough confidence and spirit to get them through the rest of the match.

Rarely can a side have dominated 45 minutes of football - as Rangers did in the first half - against a team in their own division and come away with so little.

They forced 14 corners to United's one and peppered Alan Combe's goal with shots and crosses.

United in contrast managed a single corner and a single shot.

But the latter was gleefully converted into a debut goal for new signing Lilley, the man for whom they had paid Oxford United £80,000 in midweek.

The man who supplied him with the ball was strike partner Beto Naveda, who was soon to be carried off with an ankle injury.

But the real culprit was Amoruso, who was far too casual once again and allowed the Argentinian to block his attempted clearance.

The loose ball fell to Lilley for the sort of chance his team-mates had failed to a man to provide him with all half - and he had no trouble smashing the ball past a startled Stefan Klos.

It seems as though Amoruso finds the Dundee air soporific because he committed a similar error at Dens Park in September when he allowed the hosts' Juan Sara to rob him and turn a 1-0 lead for the champions into a 1-1 draw.

Rangers hit the bar twice before the break. First Tony Vidmar hit wood, in at left-back for the suspended Arthur Numan, and then Ronald de Boer followed suit from a free kick.

Neil McCann was allowed plenty of space on the left, and de Boer supplied plenty of crosses from the other flank.

Billy Dodds, who was making his first league start since October 21, had a penalty claim turned down against his former club when a Jim Lauchlan and Combe combination put the ball out of play - with the striker insisting he had been clattered by the goalkeeper.

TV pictures seemed to indicate United had been fortunate once more.

The goal Rangers did score was one to please the huge away following. McCann did well on the left; Michael Mols cleverly laid the ball back, and Reyna smashed in a shot that Combe had no chance of reaching.

The goalkeeper had to endure plenty of nervous moments before the break, including one of his own making when he made a mess of a punch but was able to achieve what he had originally set out to do seconds later thanks to a kind bounce.

United sent on Jim Hamilton for Naveda just before half-time and after the restart were a far more enterprising unit, with Amoruso and Bert Konterman - who had been reunited as a central pairing in a back four - looking unsteady.

Amoruso's return from suspension and Scott Wilson's absence from the 16 had made it possible, but for many of the Light Blue persuasion it was all too reminiscent of that error-strewn winless period earlier in the season.

The second half saw United growing in confidence and Rangers unable to recapture their early dominance.

The chances and corners dried up too, although Fernando Ricksen's cross was good enough to have set up a match-winning goal. Instead, though, McCann - who had once again lost marker David McCracken - dived to head wide.

Mols used his ability to turn a man but could not find an end product either from a shot or a pass.

Amoruso's wretched shooting reputation was summed up by arguably his worst yet - a long-ranger that actually bounced back into play off the roof of the stand.

Many were the times McCann beat his man; seldom were the occasions when the cross found a colleague.

The evening was encapsulated four minutes from time when McCann finally produced the killer ball only Barry Ferguson's header to hit the bar rather than the back of the net.

As for United, they were never so adventurous that they created much - although Charlie Miller forced Klos into a block from a free-kick, and Hasney Aljofree burst through to get in a shot that the German saved comfortably.

Sunday's result leaves Celtic 12 points clear and another big step nearer the title.

Teams

Dundee Utd: Combe, De Vos, McCracken (Venetis 86), Lauchlan, Partridge, Buchan, Miller, Aljofree, Heaney, Naveda (Hamilton 45), Lilley (McConalogue 80).

Subs Not Used: Gallacher, McCunnie.

Goals: Lilley 32.

Rangers: Klos, Ricksen, Amoruso, Konterman, Vidmar (Albertz 84), Reyna, Ferguson, de Boer (Johnston 77), McCann, Dodds (Miller 71), Mols.

Subs Not Used: Christensen, Ross.

Goals: Reyna 18.

Att: 10,750

Ref: J Rowbotham (Scotland).