But a moment of madness from Amoruso gave their new signing Derek Lilley a golden opportunity and he had the simple task of lobbing the ball over Stefan Klos to earn his side an unexpected point.
Advocaat went back to his 4-4-2 formation for the game with Scott Wilson dropping out of defence at the expense of his manager’s tactical switch.
And the move looked to be a good one with Rangers taking the game to the home in the early stages, forcing FIVE consecutive corners at one point.
In the 11th minute Ronald de Boer did well on the right side and put in a good ball for Michael Mols who was unlucky with his header which went straight into the arms of United ‘keeper Alan Combe.
Then 60 seconds later De Boer was involved in a good move again, playing a nice pass to Mols on the edge of the box. The Dutchman squared the ball to Barry Ferguson but his shot floated just over the bar.
De Boer was the inspiration behind many of Rangers’ moves and it was the Dutchman who linked well to create an opening for Tony Vidmar but the Aussie watched in frustration has his effort hit the crossbar.
But it was only a matter of time before the Light Blues were going to take the lead and the deadlock was finally broken in the 18th minute. Ferguson played the ball wide to Neil McCann, then the winger fed Mols who set up Reyna and the American fired an unstoppable drive into the net from about 25 yards out.
When Rangers shelled out £4.5 million for De Boer in the summer the last place you would have thought the former Barcelona star would enjoy one of his finest hours in Light Blue was at Tannadice on a freezing cold Sunday night.
But the classy Dutchman certainly couldn’t be accused of hiding and he was the man on form for the Gers, hitting the crossbar with a speculative free-kick on the half hour mark.
Advocaat would have been pleased with what he was witnessing from his players as they tried to cut Celtic’s lead at the top of the table following their 6-0 demolition of Aberdeen at Parkhead 24 hours earlier.
But 12 minutes before the break a mistake by Amoruso saw United back on level terms with their FIRST shot on target. The Italian tried to pass the ball across the face of his own penalty area but sent it straight to Lilley who couldn’t believe his luck and lobbed the ball over Klos.
The Gers players looked to respond quickly to United’s goal and in their very next attack Billy Dodds was through on goal only to be brought down by Combe. The little striker was furious with referee John Rowbotham after being denied what seemed a certain penalty.
Rangers appeared to be rattled by United’s equaliser and didn’t start the second half with nearly as much enthusiasm as they had kicked off the game. Alex Smith’s men were in the game more and more and all of a sudden the Gers were chasing a game they at one point looked to be in no danger of taking anything less than three points from.
A lot was made of the battle between two old Ibrox pals – Ferguson of Rangers and Charlie Miller of United – before the game. And it was Miller who almost made the headlines with a great long-range free-kick which was well saved by Klos.
Then a minute later, with Gers next attack, McCann should have put his side in front but he somehow managed to but his header wide when it looked easier to score from a Fernando Ricksen cross.
Advocaat put Kenny Miller, Allan Johnston and Jorg Albertz on late in the game but nobody could find that vital winner with the last chance going to Ferguson who watched in agony as his header from a McCann cross cannoned off the bar.
DUNDEE UNITED: Combe, De Vos, Naveda (Hamilton 44), Lilley (McConalogue 81), Heaney, Aljofree, Partridge, Lauchlan, Buchan, Miller, McCracken (Venetis 86) Subs (not used): Gallacher, McCunnie
RANGERS: Klos, Ricksen, Amoruso, Ferguson, Mols, Reyna, De Boer (Johnston 77), Konterman, Dodds (Miller 71), McCann, Vidmar (Albertz 84) Subs (not used): Christiansen, Johnston, Ross