Tony Docherty haș acknowledged Rangers are much improved but he wants to go to Ibrox and show why Dundee are one of the form teams in the Premiership.
Philippe Clement looks to have brought a level of consistency back to his Light Blues in recent weeks but Docherty believes his own team can head to Glasgow with confidence. Dundee, after a slow start of their own, have won four and drawn one in their last six, with their sole defeat coming last time out at Hearts. That is something the Tayside outfit are looking to bounce back from after having no game last weekend.
Docherty said: “The current Rangers team seem to have improved a bit in recent weeks. In their last week of games, their Tottenham game, I thought they were excellent and I thought they were excellent in the cup final as well. They do seem to be carrying a bit of form into the game, but that’s Rangers. I can only concern myself with my own team and as I say, the stats are there to see that we’re third in the form for a reason. Hopefully we can pick up again. I do see a lot of players in good form at the moment.
“Hopefully we can bring that to our performance, which will be really difficult against, as you say, a good Rangers team and an improving Rangers team.”
Clement has spoken about the huge financial gulf between Rangers and Celtic and the likes of Tottenham Hotspur in the Europa League. Docherty reckons the same can be said when you compare the Ibrox wage bill to that of his Dundee squad. Docherty acknowledged: “It’s difficult when you’re playing when there’s such a gulf in terms of finances and budgets and level of player. You know it is.
“I know Rangers, they’ve maybe come out and sometimes when they’re playing in Europe, there’s some similar circumstances. So they’ll find it. In that sense, we find it going down there. But listen, it’s very much a challenge.
“As a manager and as a coach and stuff, you really do all you can to try and narrow that gap. There’s a lot of things looking at in possession and out of possession that we need to do well within a game plan.
“For example, the last time we went to Celtic Park, I thought we put in a really good performance. “If we do that again the boys can take confidence from that. It’s us against them. If we do a lot of these things right, it will give us a good chance of picking up something for the game.”
He is still confident that if his players perform the way he knows they can then they can pick up the points. “I’d never down my own team,” Docherty confidently added. “I’ve got a really talented group in there, good players.
“It’s just trying to get the best out of them on that 90-minute performance and trying to make sure that, without scaring them about the opposition, they’re aware of the opposition and strengths. Looking at them as opponents and seeing ways, just exactly as I say, that you can try and negate the strengths and try and exploit the weaknesses.
“So it’s working with your squad on an individual basis and a team basis to make us as competitive and as I’m always saying to players to look for that perfect performance. So if I can get everybody focusing on that, then that perfect performance by every individual on the team could result in us picking up a good away win.”