The performance of on-loan defender Aaron Donnelly at Motherwell has given Dundee boss Tony Docherty a dilemma for the weekend trip to Rangers.
The Dark Blues face the daunting task of taking on Philippe Clement’s improving Gers on their home patch.
It’s been 24 years since any Dundee side went to Ibrox and came away with three points.
To earn any success this time around the visitors will have to be defensively sound.
Docherty, though, has some decisions to make in that department this weekend.
A key one is whether to stick with Donnelly or bring the more experienced Ricki Lamie back in.
Lamie has quickly made himself a regular in the back three preferred by Docherty since joining on loan from Motherwell.
He’d only missed one match before last weekend, the 2-0 win at Livingston where Donnelly took up that place on the left of the back three.
But he couldn’t play against his parent club last weekend.
And Docherty was very pleased with Donnelly’s display. Now he has a decision to make for the clash at Ibrox – give Donnelly another chance or go for the experience at a tough venue?
“You want that kind of problem. You want everybody staking a claim,” Docherty said.
“You’d rather have that as a manager than people being out of form and struggling.
“To keep levels high that’s the way you do it.
“Any successful team has a strong starting XI but really strong ones behind that as well.
“We’ve got that here.”
Aaron Donnelly
Northern Ireland U/21 international Donnelly has played four times since joining on loan from Nottingham Forest after injury interrupted his start to life at Dens Park.
The 3-3 draw at Motherwell saw him earn an assist for Lyall Cameron’s initial leveller at Fir Park.
“Aaron Donnelly came in for the first time since we played Rangers in November and he performed great,” Docherty added.
“That’s indicative of the whole squad. Donnelly slotted into the team and he was outstanding as part of a real strong team performance.
“I want that. I want to see boys take their opportunities when they are presented with them.
“All our subs at Motherwell did that.
“It’s important we keep stressing that to the squad because that healthy competition keeps the standard of performance up.”
Team news
Dundee don’t expect any injury issues for Saturday’s Premiership trip to Rangers, though they had some players missing from training on Wednesday.
Diego Pineda will miss the game with a thigh injury.
Docherty said: “We’re fine. A couple of knocks and some didn’t train on Tuesday and possibly won’t on Thursday but will hopefully be OK for the game.
“Couple of bumps and bruises but nothing major to report.”
Conversation