Dark Blues boss hails the bravery and resilience of his side after halting Rangers’ winning run
Steven Pressley declared himself “proud” of his Dundee players after earning a hard-fought 2-2 draw against Rangers at Dens Park, which ended the visitors’ run of seven consecutive victories in all competitions.
The Dark Blues led through Bradley Fink’s finish from a tight angle in the first half before Badredine Bouanani equalised for Rangers with a deflected strike from the edge of the box. Nicolas Raskin’s fierce 25-yard strike put Rangers ahead after the interval, but Callum Jones capitalised on a defensive error from Dan Neil to secure a deserved point for the hosts.
The result provided Pressley with further evidence of the progress his side are making, with their physical approach and courage to play forward frustrating the Ibrox side for large spells.
“To use an old cliché, it was a game of two halves,” he stated. “I thought our first-half performance was a really outstanding and very dominant performance. We restricted the Rangers to very few chances and we created a number of chances and chances that we felt we could have capitalised more.
“We were really strong in the duels and the second balls, the aspects of the game that I spoke about prior to the game. But the pleasing thing as well is when we got on to those second balls, we were courageous in our play and we really tried to play.
“We had to ride our luck at times. Against the Old Firm, you have to dig in and suffer a bit. We did all of those things and then we still came back for more. Mistakes occur from the pressure that we applied. We were aggressive in our press. In the second half, we ran out of steam a little bit.”
The result was particularly significant given Rangers’ impressive recent form as Dundee became the first club to take a point off McInnes’ men in eight games. Yet despite their lofty position in the table, Pressley declined to set targets for the season, preferring to concentrate on small improvements.
He added: “Our players should be really proud of their achievements tonight. We work very hard on the process every day, it’s just a matter of improving. The only thing that we ever focus on at the club is our next fixture. It’s a good result, but we want to build on that again and try and maintain the momentum.”
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