Dundee’s Michael Duffy insists Rangers should have finished the game with just 10 men on the park at Dens on Saturday.
The on-loan Celtic player was in no doubt that Harry Forrester, who netted the Light Blues’ first goal, should have received his marching orders from referee Craig Thomson as the home side clawed their way back into the match.
Forrester was booked at the start of the second half and was then incredibly lucky not to see yellow again, not once but twice, with reckless challenges on Cammy Kerr followed by Duffy himself – it was no surprise to see him subbed shortly after by his boss Mark Warburton.
However, 22-year-old Duffy believes that the result could have been so different if the Dark Blues had been allowed to finish the game one man to the good.
Duffy said: “I thought Harry Forrester should have been off the park.
“He should have been off even before his challenge on me because he had one on Cammy Kerr.
“I thought he could have gone for Cammy’s one and he was late on me so I don’t know how he managed to stay on the pitch after that one.
“The referee didn’t say anything to me but if he’d sent him off, then it would have changed the game.
“But what can you do? Sometimes it’s hard to make decisions on big days like that but he should definitely have been sent off.
“We were starting to come back into the game at that point with a few chances and they were starting to get a big sloppy.
“It would definitely have helped us but the decision didn’t go our way. His studs caught my ankle and it was undoubtedly a booking.
“I was running forward, hit the ball away and got caught high on the ankle. It was definitely a yellow.”
Rangers took the game by the scruff of the neck straight from kick-off and it was no surprise when they opened the scoring in the 14th minute with the ball breaking to Forrester inside the Dundee box and he made no mistake shooting high past home keeper Scott Bain.
The Dark Blues were toiling and just could not get a foothold in the game.
Warburton’s side continued to dominate possession and they finally increased their lead in the 39th minute when Lee Wallace cut the ball back to Kenny Miller who again gave Bain no chance with a fierce, rising left-foot shot.
The keeper then did incredibly well to prevent Rangers making it three when Miller was played straight through on goal with Bain diving bravely at his feet to snuff out the danger.
However, the Dark Blues secured a lifeline in the 44th minute when Williams sent a corner in from the right with Mark O’Hara rising highest to head past Rangers keeper Wes Foderingham from six yards.
It was a more even contest as the second-half progressed with both sides struggling to carve out clear-cut chances.
However, Dundee did finally have one in the 66th minute when Williams found himself through on goal but he could not get the ball out of his feet and Foderingham snuffed out the danger.
The Dark Blues had another chance when Williams sent a corner in from the right with sub Yordi Teijsse getting his head to the ball but he could not keep it down and it sailed over the crossbar.
As the game edged to a conclusion, Dundee continued to press with Rangers looking increasingly nervy. However, Warburton’s side held on to take all three points.
Northern Ireland Under-21 player Duffy, played against Rangers last season in the Championship when he was on loan at Alloa and he admits he did not see much difference in the Glasgow side this time round despite the addition of the likes of Joey Barton.
He added: “Rangers were just similar to when I played them last season.
“They’re good going forward but we had our chances, especially in the second half when we played up against them.
“We had a few chances at the end with set-pieces and came close.
“We knew we could get at them down the flanks as they get caught a lot going forward but it didn’t happen for us. It was a disappointing result.
“It was a tough day for us and we’ll just have to try and move on to next week.”
