Nil-nil and nil-nil may not normally send hearts aflutter for football fans.
However, Dundee’s back-to-back goalless draws have their supporters dreaming of European football.
They may be the most important 0-0s in the club’s recent history, possibly the entirety of it.
One to seal top-six at Aberdeen, the other to fill the team with belief they can truly “attack” the last five fixtures, as Tony Docherty put it.
The Dark Blues should take huge confidence from this showing – they went toe-to-toe with the Ibrox side and deserved their point.
They could even have nicked all three.
Courier Sport was there to analyse all the action.
Pitch problems?
There’s little anything else been talked about across Scotland for weeks it seems.
The Dens Park pitch and what state it was in had filled up the media talking points since the second high-profile call-off.
And there was even a Tuesday pitch inspection to check how it was getting on.
Getting on fine was the answer with some spring sunshine – at last – doing the business.
Of course, it wasn’t perfect.
A bit bare in place, particularly in one of the goalmouths. The wee bit in front of the home dugout as well looking a bit sandy but better than it had been.
The ground staff deserve credit for getting the surface in the state it is, considering how poorly it looked just a week ago.
And, a slightly dodgy first touch from Jon McCracken in the first half aside, there was no impact on the game itself.
Rangers, though, played it like it was a bog – right from the first whistle it was long ball stuff from the Gers and Dundee were more than happy with that.
Fair play to Kris Boyd on Sky Sports for his quip: “Right now, Rangers have got 99 problems but the pitch ain’t one.”
Changes
With barely 15 minutes on the clock at Aberdeen, Tony Docherty had changed from a back three to a back four.
It worked and so he stuck with that plan against the Gers but brought in Ricki Lamie and Owen Dodgson in the left half of that backline.
This was Lamie’s first start since the mauling at Celtic but he showed exactly why Dundee were so keen to get him from Motherwell.
Dodgson, meanwhile, had a tough start to the night. Abdallah Sima is the biggest threat in the Rangers attack and showed that early on, getting the better of the full-back to start with.
But the Burnley youngster grew into the battle, stepping in firmly at times and came out on top by the final whistle.
Malachi Boateng also made his first start since that Celtic match, playing in an unfamiliar right wing role.
After flashing a shot inches wide inside 40 seconds, Boateng had a fine return to the starting line-up.
Keeping it clean
Dundee have one of the worst defensive records in the Premiership. Despite that, they are one of the best at keeping clean sheets.
A big reason for that strange combination has been the previous results against the Old Firm.
They don’t make pretty reading – an aggregate score of 21-2 against across five games.
One big gripe of Docherty this term has been the displays against Rangers and Celtic and his side’s inability to be competitive against the top sides in the division.
This was different.
Not only were they competitive around the park, they were very assured at the back despite losing skipper Joe Shaughnessy early on.
His replacement Antonio Portales has had a fine debut season at Dens Park but has rarely been used in a back four.
He didn’t put a foot wrong with the entire defence largely comfortable.
Jon McCracken behind them put in his best Dundee display yet.
A fine early save to deny Sima set the tone for the team and the goalkeeper’s overall performance.
That’s 11 clean sheets in the Premiership this season – add to that number and catching St Mirren in fifth is a real possibility.
Soundtrack
Man of the Match on the night may have gone to McCracken from Courier Sport, Luke McCowan from Sky Sports and Mo Sylla from the match sponsors.
However, that accolade should go to Mark Ramsay, DJing in the booth, for his inspired selection of songs.
Any song you can think of that either referenced water or space travel came as a cheeky dig at all the coverage of the waterlogged pitch and Philippe Clement’s assertion that Rangers would travel to Mars to play.
From ‘Why Does It Always Rain On Me’ to ‘Life on Mars’ to ‘Yellow Submarine’, it was a perfect way to poke fun at the last couple of weeks.
Bravo!
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