Proud Tony Docherty was delighted to witness Dundee go “toe-to-toe” with title-chasing Rangers.

Dundee were only promoted to the top-flight from the Scottish Championship this season, yet they showed impressive tactical nous to frustrate Rangers, while delivering a threat of their own on the counter-attack. 

In the end they earned a valuable point against Philippe Clement’s side and improved their chances of playing European football next season. 

Should Celtic or Rangers win the Scottish Cup, the fifth-placed Premiership club would then enter some form of continental competition - something that Dundee are in touching distance of after securing their top-six status last weekend. 

Very few people would’ve expected the Dens Park outfit to have got anything from the game with Rangers, which was being played at the third attempt following recent postponements.

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And it further emphasises the level of performance produced by those in Dark Blue when Docherty thinks Dundee may have even deserved to have won the match late on. 

"I thought it was a fantastic team performance," the Dundee manager smiled.

"I was really, really pleased. We lose our captain (Joe Shaughnessy) early on, but I thought it was seamless when Antonio (Portaloes) comes on.

"I just thought our shape was fantastic against the ball, I thought we carried a threat, I thought we made some really good decisions in possession and out of possession.

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​"We went toe-to-toe with a very good Rangers team, who have got a real motivation in a title race, and I thought we come out toe-to-toe with them, and we did really well. 

"Arguably we could have maybe nicked something at the end there, but I'm really pleased with the professionalism and the focus of the team."

Docherty was incredibly pleased with every one of his players efforts, and he’s particularly buoyed by the fact he’s seeing tangible improvements with every passing game.

"I think that's the most important thing for me as manager, you can see the level of improvement," he added.

"The level of progression, the games here earlier in the season, we have certainly came on leaps and bounds from that, and that speaks volumes of the players. 

"It's a testament of the hard work, their professionalism and focus, we've always kept our eye on the ball and we made sure our two recent performances there, clean sheets were required.

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"We had spoken about that as a group, and they served them up tonight. So, I couldn't be more pleased and more proud of the squad for what they are giving us now. 

"We are in a good place going into that top-six final five games."