Dundee losing at Rangers isn’t a surprise – they haven’t won there since 2001.
The Dark Blues did score their first goal at Ibrox since Faisal El Bakhtaoui struck in 2017 but the end result was the same as it has been on the previous 15 visits.
Tony Docherty, though, left Govan with a sense of “opportunity missed” after the 3-1 reverse.
Missed because his side took the lead early on, conceded three poor goals and then failed to convert second-half possession into chances.
And the Dens gaffer had a good moan at the officials to boot.
Courier Sport was at Ibrox and that’s where we will start.
VAR
In the post-match press conference, Docherty was asked for his feelings after the game and launched straight into a stinging attack on VAR.
You can see his frustration at the decision to award Rangers a penalty. Abdallah Sima gave Aaron Donnelly’s shirt a tug to begin with before the young defender did the same.
🔵 Rangers came from behind to beat Dundee 3-1 and move five points behind Celtic, despite Jose Cifuentes' first-half red card after a VAR check ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/LCS5ybexiZ
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) December 9, 2023
Was that taken into account? Or allowed to slide before the defender was punished instead?
Crucially, however, Donnelly gave the officials a decision to make. It was a moment of inexperience from a talented young defender who had a tough day against a bigger, stronger opponent.
In the age of VAR – and particularly at a venue like Ibrox – you aren’t getting away with pulling a shirt like that.
Rangers had their own moans at the red card decision when Jose Cifuentes trod on Dundee frontman Amadou Bakayoko just before half-time.
There wasn’t a lot of force in that challenge but in the age of VAR, it’s a red card.
The Gers were very unhappy with the performance of referee Kevin Clancy but with little justification – the man in the middle had a good game.
VAR, though, did have a big impact on the game – without it, Rangers don’t get their penalty and Cifuentes doesn’t get a red card.
“Re-refereeing” the game indeed.
Goals
The biggest frustration for the Dark Blues will be the goals they conceded in that 14-minute first-half flurry.
After shocking the home support by opening the scoring on five minutes through Bakayoko, Dundee gave up their lead far too easily.
To get a result at a place like Ibrox you need to put in an almost perfect defensive performance.
However, that escaped the Dee for that 14 minutes.
The first goal came directly from a poor defensive header by Jordan McGhee. Maybe the ball would have drifted out had he left it. What he certainly couldn’t do was head it straight to Todd Cantwell.
The second was also self-inflicted, Donnelly pulling Sima’s shirt.
And then the third was just a straightforward corner kick. Dundee have been very strong at both ends from set-plays this season.
This one just came down to Sima over-powering Donnelly and smashing a header into the net.
The on-loan Brighton forward proved the difference in the match. Too strong, too fast.
Missing men
Not helping on that front was the injury sustained by defender Antonio Portales as he attempted to chase down Sima.
Since coming back from injury at Hibs, the Mexican has been a key part of the Dundee defence and will be a big blow if he’s missing for a lengthy period of time again.
They missed him for the rest of this contest. Portales was off the pitch getting treatment when the penalty incident occurred, adding to a sense of confusion with an important defender missing.
Certainly missed was Owen Beck. The Liverpool loanee would have relished the chance to impress at Ibrox but a groin injury ruled him out.
Dundee were without his tenacious defending and ability to progress the ball in tight areas. No one else in the squad is able to provide anything like the same qualities as Beck.
And when they had more of the ball against 10 men, the Dark Blues missed a spark to open up the home defence.
They are a different team with the Welshman on the left – they’ll be hoping to have him back for next week’s crunch Premiership clash at Ross County as they bid to put this weekend’s disappointment behind them quickly.
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