Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Hartley: Gers win can’t be one-off
PAUL Hartley says the 2-1 win over Rangers has set the standard for his team and has challenged his Dundee players to make sure it’s not a “one-off”.
The Dark Blues were deserving winners over the Ibrox side in a pulsating match at Dens Park.
An impressive first half from the home side had them 2-0 up at the interval through goals from Mark O’Hara and Kevin Holt.
In the second period, the Gers tried to get themselves back in the game and grabbed a goal through Joe Garner on the hour-mark but were held at bay by a determined Dee defence.
The victory was no less than the performance deserved and boss Hartley insists they must do it again as they fight for a place in the top half of the Premiership.
“The challenge for our guys is it can’t be a one-off because it was Rangers,” said Hartley.
“It has to be like that every week from now until the end of the season.
“We’ve given ourselves a chance to be in the top six. It’s so tight, everybody is jostling to try and get in there.
“We’re still l ooking over our shoulder, we’ll not get too carried away but the players can be happy.
“That just can’t be this game and then next week’s different.
“That’s the level of performance now we have to try and take into the next few weeks.
“The players need to know this is not a one-off — it’ll be hard work again when they’re back in tomorrow.”
It’s been a long wait for Dundee fans to savour a win over the Glasgow giants at Dens Park — a 4-3 win way back in August 1993.
The manager was aware of that record and insists his side could have made it a bigger scoreline.
He added: “We had some good opportunities, Mark had one in the first half, Wighton had a great opportunity and we could have scored more goals.
“Just to get a win against Rangers — I think it’s the first one since ’92 here and it’s been a long time coming.
“The fans went home happy with the way that we played, not just the win but the way we played and how we performed.”
Victory sees Dundee into sixth, a point ahead of fifth-placed Partick. More importantly, they’ve now opened up a six-point gap to Hamilton in the relegation play-off position.