Dundee boss Gary Bowyer admits he substituted Josh Mulligan before he was sent off in the 1-0 defeat to Rangers.
The 19-year-old was booked by referee Willie Collum on 49 minutes and was subsequently pulled up for a string of fouls in the following 18 minutes before his substitution for Max Anderson.
However, despite running the risk of a red card, Bowyer was full of praise for the talented Dee youngster for his performance at Ibrox.
The Dark Blues pushed the Glasgow giants all the way in their Premier Sports Cup quarter-final tie.
Bowyer says they can take plenty positives from the performance into their Championship promotion tilt, despite the disappointment of crashing out of the cup.
And the likes of Mulligan can certainly be satisfied with their efforts.
“Personally I was really pleased with Josh Mulligan’s performance,” Bowyer said.
“For someone 19 years of age he really went and took the game to Rangers.
“He had one or two opportunities first half but he competed as well.
“I had to remove him because I think he was one foul away from being sent off.
“We didn’t need that.”
‘Fabulous lesson’
He added: “We’ve already talked about the lessons to take forward.
“We were a young team, bar Adam Legzdins in goal.
“These nights should inspire players to want to play these venues week in, week out against that level of opposition.
“Mulligan playing against John Lundstram is a fabulous lesson for him and I thought he stood up to it.”
Belief
Despite his satisfaction with large sections of the performance from his side, Bowyer was disappointed in their attacking play.
Though they went close on a couple of occasions, Dundee didn’t manage a shot on target throughout the 90 minutes.
Joe Grayson went closest with a dipping volley from 25 yards and Bowyer felt that’s where the display fell short despite the obvious positives.
“I think just the decision-making was lacking,” he added.
“In the first half it was more belief. We said at half-time to show a bit more belief and I think we did second half.
“It came down to the decision-making and execution.
“But we take that into our league campaign now.
“We’ve created the most chances in the Championship this season so it’s maybe me expecting a little bit (too much) from them.”
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