It was a radically different Rangers side to the one which faced Galatasaray in midweek as Dick Advocaat made no-less than five changes to the starting line-up.
Most of those alterations were injury-forced but the notable swaps included starting slots for 19-year-old goalkeeper Mark Brown and frozen-out frontman Marco Negri.
The live televised encounter started sharply with Kanchelskis and Ronald de Boer combining well to force a double save from Alan Combe.
On eight minutes Jorg Albertz signalled his return to the starting line-up with a 25-yard piledriver which narrowly shaved the upright.
United were forced to make a change when David McCracken was carried off injured to be replaced by John Licina. That coincided with United’s best chance of the half when deputy keeper Brown was forced to block a shot from Gustavo Fuentes.
The Ibrox side took the lead on 32 minutes when Kanchelskis somehow squeezed a shot below the arms of Combe from a tight angle.
Negri had the ball in the net seven minutes later but to the striker’s dismay the linesman flagged for offside following a pass across them face of goal from de Boer.
The match took a nasty turn five minutes before the break when two United players were booked within a sixty second spell. Both substitute Anastasis Venetis, who had earlier replaced the injured David Hannah, and Marcelino Gallipo found themselves in referee John Rowbotham’s book.
Within seconds of that Fernando Ricksen won a free-kick on the edge of the box and up stepped Albertz to thunder the dead ball past Combe.
From kick-off Craig Easton made a synical lunge at van Bronckhorst catching the midfielder on the ankle. The referee had no option but to send him off for what could have been a very serious tackle.
Man of the Match Tugay covered every blade of grass during the second half and was involved in everything Rangers created. After numerous half chances van Bronckhorst unleashed one of those trademark shots from outside the box which left the keeper with absolutely no chance.
It rounded off a morale-boosting victory for Dick Advocaat who was without the likes of Michael Mols, Barry Ferguson and Klos through injury.
The players now head off on international duty and return in two weeks when they travel to Easter Road to face Hibs’ with the opportunity of leapfrogging them into second position.