Tony Docherty urges Dundee to replicate Aberdeen performance against Rangers

Tony Docherty has challenged Dundee to replicate the performance they produced against Aberdeen in midweek as they bid to further enhance their Premiership top-six prospects with a victory over title-chasing Rangers on Sunday.

The sixth-placed Dark Blues boss was thrilled with the way his team played as they defeated the Dons 1-0 and he felt the scoreline should have been far more convincing.

Docherty believes that if they can rouse themselves to produce a similar level of intensity on Sunday, they will have the chance of a rare victory over the Ibrox men.

“The other night we displayed some real top performances,” he said.

“We’ve had some good results this season. We had a 4-0 win at home to St Mirren and a 4-1 win away to Livingston and I thought our performance on Wednesday probably merited that type of scoreline.

“If we can take that performance and replicate it going into Sunday, we’ll give ourselves a chance.

“We put a lot into that game on Wednesday but we know we’ll have to put the same into this one.

“This is why you recruit a squad because you need to be robust enough to go from game to game and, with the rigours of this league, you need to be at the top of your energy levels and ready to go again.”

While Dundee go into Sunday’s match on the back of a positive midweek result, league leaders Rangers are heading to Dens Park looking to bounce back from a Europa League last-16 exit at the hands of Benfica after losing the second leg at Ibrox 1-0 on Thursday following a 2-2 draw in the first leg.

“I was at the game and you’ve got to put it in perspective, they were playing against a fantastic opponent and I thought they gave a really good account of themselves and Scottish football,” said Docherty.

“They’ll be disappointed but it’s Rangers Football Club, that’s what you do, you just look at the next game and try to bounce back. I can’t affect anything to do with them.

“All I can affect is our team and we’re in a good place and we’re very much looking forward to playing at home, where our form has been good recently and we have a synergy with the fans.”