The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Win over Rangers will restore selfbelief to Dark Blues, says Rab Douglas
It was a much-needed win for Dundee against Rangers on Friday night at Dens. Neil McCann’s men hadn’t tasted victory for six games prior to the match, but hopefully the performance and result will now give the team a lot of self-belief. In the first half, I thought Dundee stood off them a bit but in the second 45, they were much better and the win was well deserved.
Scott Allan’s pass for Mark O’Hara’s winner was absolutely top-class. The on-loan Celtic player has struggled to make an impact since joining Dundee during the summer but that was possibly caused by the hernia problem he was carrying.
He has now had surgery to correct it and hopefully he will be like a new signing for the Dark Blues. It would be great if he could come up with more moments of magic on a regular basis between now and the end of the season.
As always, I was interested in seeing how the Dundee goalie was doing and I thought Elliott Parish had a good game.
There has obviously been a lot of speculation about first-choice keeper Scott Bain being out in the cold at the moment.
However, that is not Parish’s problem and all he can do is come in and try to do his best between the sticks.
He had a great save on Friday night, with the ball possibly hitting off his face, but being a goalie, I am sure he would have been delighted with just stopping the shot.
Parish has also had a clean sheet since he came in. Probably the longer Scott Bain is out of the team, the more the fans will be talking about Elliott Parish.
I don’t think there is any great pressure on him so it is up to him to keep his head down, work hard and retain the jersey. It is important now that Dundee back up this win up in Ross County on Saturday.
The Staggies have had a wee boost with Owen Coyle coming in as manager but it is still a good game for Dundee to go and kick on – they have to get back-toback wins in all honesty and the Rangers result cannot be a one-off.
As for the Ibrox side... I think the Rangers board are just putting themselves under more pressure the longer their new manager search goes on.
They either don’t fancy Derek McInnes or they can’t afford him but what manager is going to relish coming in and having to work with some of the signings that Pedro Caixinha made?
These guys will be on reasonable money on long-term contracts.
Any new man is going to be stuck with the majority of them so it is not great management from top to bottom.
It looks like Rangers are unwilling to pay compensation for a new boss so they will have to look at someone who is out of work for whatever reason.
Results simply haven’t been good enough as well – last night’s 3-0 win over Aberdeen excepted – and it all just sums up the last five years for Rangers.
Celtic secured yet more silverware on Sunday at Hampden, beating Motherwell 2-0 in the Betfred League Cup Final. That success was, of course, overshadowed by the contentious penalty incident involving Scott Sinclair and Motherwell’s Cedric Kipre.
It was a double blow for Well with referee Craig Thomson sending off Kipre after pointing to the spot.
I actually thought he should have been red carded for an earlier incident with Moussa Dembele but it was an incredibly soft penalty.
Sinclair says he felt a touch but there looked to be minimal contact.
What is certain is that the League Cup could be the first step in a “double treble” for Brendan Rodgers’ side – I can’t see anything else but that happening at the moment.
It would be great if Scott Allan could come up with more moments of magic on a regular basis between now and the end of the season