Dundee are still searching for the first elusive league win of the season following this heavy defeat against Rangers at Ibrox.
The home side opened the scoring towards the end of the first half through Alfredo Morelos and then doubled their advantage in the second 45 with a Josh Windass goal with further counters from Carlos Pena and Morelos with his second before Faissal El Bakhtaoui hit a late consolation strike.
The Dark Blues did have chances but ultimately this was a routine victory for the Glasgow side.
Dundee boss Neil McCann made two changes to the team that started against Hibs before the international break with Sofien Moussa returning after injury and 21-year-old Lewis Spence handed his league debut for the Dark Blues with Paul McGowan on the bench and James Vincent out of the squad altogether.
Club captain Darren O’Dea had also recovered from injury but he had to be content with a substitute role alongside new signings A-Jay Leitch-Smith and Jon Aurtenetxe.
Rangers manager Pedro Caixinha kept faith with the same team that beat Ross County last time out.
Not surprisingly, the home side dominated the early exchanges with Morelos having a great chance in just the third minute but he sent his header over Dundee keeper Scott Bain’s crossbar.
Daniel Candeias then sent a dangerous ball in from the right with Niko Kranjcar looking certain to score at the back post but Bain made a vital block to deny the Croatian.
The Dark Blues, playing in red, then had an opportunity of their own when Faissal El Bakhtaoui made a lightning break down the right but with team-mate Roarie Deacon busting a gut to get into the Rangers box, the striker hit his cross too hard and the chance was lost.
In the 22nd minute, Bain could only push away a cross with the ball falling perfectly for Kranjcar but Cammy Kerr bravely blocked his shot.
In the 37th minute McCann made an early substitution taking off Scott Allan with Leitch-Smith coming on for his debut.
And just four minutes later, Dundee’s resistance was finally broken.
Candeias found Morelos in the Dundee penalty area and the striker made no mistake drilling the ball low past the exposed Bain.
Just seconds into the second half, the Dark Blues came agonisingly close to equalising. Leitch-Smith dug out a cross from the left with Deacon bulleting a header just inches past Rangers keeper Wes Foderingham’s right-hand post.
The home side then had a good opportunity to extend their lead in the 61st minute when Windass played in Kenny Miller but the Scotland striker directed his shot too close to Bain with the keeper then making a great diving save from a Candeias shot.
Dundee then came close again when the Rangers defence failed to deal with a corner with the ball being headed towards goal by Kerr Waddell with Moussa just inches away from what would have been a tap-in.
However, there was a goal in the 69th minute – for the home side. Candeias swung an inviting deep cross in from the right with Windass giving Bain no chance with a superb header.
There seemed no way back for Dundee and that was confirmed in the 83rd minute when a Windass ball from the left found its way to fellow sub Pena and he made no mistake lashing his shot into the back of the net.
Two minutes later and it was 4-0 with Morelos hitting an unstoppable shot from an incredibly-tight angle high past Bain.
Then in the 89th minute El Bakhtaoui scored a goal for Dundee with a shot from the edge of the Rangers box but it was far too little too late.
