Captain Kenny Miller, right, celebrates after scoring Dundee’s goal in a 1-1 Ladbrokes Premiership draw with Rangers at Dens Park yesterday.

McIntyre continued: “Jack (Dundee keeper Hamilton) has made one or two saves.

“We knew we would have to give up the wider areas and defend a lot of crosses but we were nice and narrow and the distances between our two fours were very good. So the players deserve all the credit because it is not easy to handle that.”

McIntyre added: “It was an opportunity to get off the bottom of the league today.

“So I am really pleased that we have managed to do that but I will reiterate, there is still so much hard work ahead.

“There are a lot of tough games in December so it is just a case of one at a time. The boys are in a happy place at the moment. There is a real spirit of togetherness there that you see on the training ground every day.”

When asked if he had watched Ralph’s sending off again, McIntyre added: “Yes, I have and the referee has told me it is for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity.

“That is going to be appealed because Andy Boyle is around on the cover, so it is definitely not that.

“That was disappointing but I would rather talk about how good the players were rather than that decision.”

Meanwhile, Steven Gerrard insists he now knows which players to trust after the Dens Park ckash.

Asked about all the changes, the Light Blues boss said: “It won’t happen again. People knock on the door.

“People shake their head when they are not in the team. People are disappointed but that’s fine, that’s football.

“But when you are given a chance, go and back it up, go and perform. Give me a problem and a headache. It is pretty easy, pretty straightforward for me now.

“I know the players I can trust and it is a reality check today that we are not good enough to make six changes.

“It should make my job a lot easier moving forward because there will be less knocks at the door because if players are honest with themselves and watch that performance back I don’t think they have a leg to stand on. But I welcome the knocks because I have all the evidence and ammunition to show them why they are not in the team.”

Gerrard, however, accepted responsibilty for the Aberdeen and Dundee matches

He said: “I am very disappointed. Our last two performances have been very poor. Seven days ago we were in a fantastic place, top of the league, looking like we had players who could handle the responsibility of being a Rangers player because we end up at the top.

“The last two performances don’t look like the team we are trying to build and individuals are not stepping up and performing at a level that is acceptable,” he added.

Lafferty had the ball in the net before the break only to be ruled offside but Gerrard claimed he did not get the chance to make his feelings known.

He said: “It looked good for me. The official delegate has just asked me have I got anything to say about the officials but before I could open my mouth he walked past me and left.”

SNS.