Dundee United .......... 1 Rangers .......... 2

THEY refused to go home, sang their songs, and insisted: ''We shall not be moved.'' They had, of course, been moved, shifted from that perch of triumphalism on which they have reigned for a decade.

At least these were real Rangers fans, not the kind that turn on the manager, the chairman, the players after all these years of almost total domination.

They didn't think it was all over, they knew it, but their message to the genuine celebrants 80 miles down the road was one of breast-beating defiance. That was in stark contrast to the previous week when thousands left Ibrox before saying farewell to some of the men who had given them their uninterrupted run of success on the domestic front.

In a way, the demonstration at Tannadice was symbolic of the game itself. The fans were more fascinating than the game, which, in the end, Rangers won comfortably enough, admittedly helped by a dubious penalty. (In this transistorised world, the supporters had one ear on Parkhead and both eyes on the field. It makes for a weird atmosphere.)

United taunted the Ibrox followers after news of Celtic's early goal arrived over the air-waves, the travellin' band responded in typical loud fashion, and that was the pattern much of the afternoon.

Celtic's second goal evoked another outburst from the tangerine taunters and triggered a wha's-like-us reply from the bluenose brigade.

How the players managed to concentrate on their jobs is hard to fathom but, for a while, the Rangers men had hopes as the news from the south indicated that Celtic were hanging on a little precariously to a single-goal lead. Once the word came that Harald Brattbakk had scored at Celtic Park, however, the party was all about might-have-beens.

Rangers manager Walter Smith, supervising his last league game after seven years in charge and 12 years in total at Ibrox, was philosophical. ''You always have hope but the professional part of you tells you that if a team has a home game to win the title, they are not likely to to throw it away.

''We have won 10 champion-ships in the 12 years I have been here, but that still doesn't erase the disappointment of not winning this one.''

None the less, the manager recalled that he had made the point four weeks ago that Celtic's run-in programme had to give them a distinct advantage. ''Neither of us would have imagined we would have dropped points as we have in these closing weeks, but they still had a home game to finish it off.''

Smith also emphasised that his team had not lost the league on Saturday but over a long season, during which they failed to find consistency. ''Celtic capitalised on that as we have done in the past.''

Rangers had not been playing particularly well before they took the lead after half-an-hour when Brian Laudrup took a pass from Lorenzo Amoruso and hit it with his right foot into the net.

Their play improved for a spell but there was little between the sides when United were stunned by a penalty award given by Hugh Dallas. The referee, in my view, is the best in the business but even he gets it wrong sometimes, and I would suggest this was one of the mistakes. Stuart McCall made a splendid run down the right and his attempted cross hit off David Sinclair, who had just come on for Siggi Johnsson.

The ball may have hit an arm of the United man but it did seem unlikely that he could have done anything about it. If the home fans were furious, so, too, was the team-captain, Maurice Malpas, who showed a burst of petulance when he kicked the ball off the spot and was booked for his ire.

Dallas riled the Rangers fans to a greater extent when he sent off Albertz after the German, angered by a late tackle from Steven Thom- son, and perhaps illustrating the overall frustration of the Ibrox players, aimed a half-hearted kick at the United man.

United, by this time, had most of the territorial advantage and did create a couple of chances, but the goal they scored was not an easy option. Lars Zetterlund did well to get a head flick to a cross from Kjell Olofsson, and leave Antti Niemi stranded.

Overall, Rangers deserved their win, which left them two points behind the new champions. It has been an arduous season for them but, as their manager said, maybe they can make some amends for their disappointment by winning the cup final next week.