Jim warns of Gers’ desire to avenge defeat
Rangers will be without the bite of Alfredo Morelos and Scott Arfield against Dundee.
But Dark Blues boss Jim McIntyre insists the Gers won’t be toothless today.
Morelos joined Arfield in sitting out the trip to Dens Park through suspension after collecting a crazy red card – his third of the season – against Aberdeen.
The hot-headed Colombian is Rangers’ top scorer this season with 17 goals, while Arfield has notched six from midfield.
Yet McIntyre reckons resurgent Dundee must still be wary of visitors who will be “desperate” to avenge their midweek defeat to the Dons.
“Morelos and Arfield being suspended doesn’t change how difficult a game it is going to be,” he said.
“Rangers have been doing very well under Steven Gerrard in his first job in management, so we know it’s going to be hard.
“They were top of the league going into last Wednesday night’s game against the Dons, so we know we are going to be facing a team desperate to bounce back from a tough result in midweek.
“We just need to look after ourselves. We’ve got make sure that we are that same dogged, determined way but, equally, put them under pressure.
“We are at home and it’s important we test them and make sure we are working the goalkeeper.”
In racking up a convincing 4-0 win over Hamilton Accies in midweek, the Dark Blues certainly put the required work in.
For McIntyre, the result was just reward for the hard work his players have put in of late.
“Over the last couple of weeks we have seen real improvement in the performance, even at Motherwell where we lost narrowly,” said McIntyre.
“We could have taken a draw from that match, but we needed to make more forward passes and take risks by getting players into the box.
“We have certainly done that over the last three games.
“We were really unlucky not to beat St Mirren here, but we have followed that up with a great result against Accies.
“It was so important. The head-to-heads are how you are going to claw the points back.
“I’m delighted with what the players gave us. It was great to get a clean sheet and claw back a few goals from a negative goal difference.”