Dundee 1 - 3 Rangers: Rangers put troubles aside to book their place in League Cup last four

WALTER Smith praised his makeshift side for ensuring Rangers' current difficulties off the pitch were not transformed into the makings of a crisis on the field of play.

Rangers resisted an impressive display from First Division leaders Dundee at Dens Park last night to secure a flattering but doggedly earned 3-1 victory which secured their place in the semi-finals of the Co-operative Insurance Cup next February.

It remains to be seen whether Smith, whose contract expires in January, will still be in charge of the financially troubled Ibrox club when they turn up at Hampden for their last-four tie but the manager was delighted by the response of his players last night.

Smith fielded two debutants in 17-year-old central defender Danny Wilson and 21-year-old midfielder Jordan McMillan, leaving many of his first-choice players on the sidelines or on the bench with a view to Sunday's SPL fixture against Dundee United at Tannadice and the Champions League trip to face Unirea Urziceni in Romania next week.

"It is always difficult to pitch players in who have not played a lot of football recently, but they handled it well," said Smith. "It is a pleasing result for us ahead of the tough games we have coming up over the next few days.

"I thought Danny Wilson played very well. As I said before the game, it's not easy to throw a young defender into a situation like this, but he did well. Normally, he is more composed on the ball than he was tonight, but he was making sure it was safety first."

Steven Whittaker gave Rangers an early lead but Dundee equalised through man of the match Leigh Griffiths before half-time. Gary MacKenzie's own goal put Rangers back in front against the run of play in the second half before John Fleck sealed their win in the closing stages.

"It was the type of game we expected," added Smith. "It was a tough game and one that we were delighted to have. We started the game well and managed to go in front, but Dundee had the better of the last 15 minutes of the first half and the first 15 minutes of the second half.

"We had to withstand pressure from them. We were a little bit fortunate to get the second goal in the manner we did. That meant

"Dundee had to push more players forward and we were able to take advantage with the third goal late on."

Smith was again unwilling to make any further comment on Rangers' financial situation, his weekend observation that Lloyds Banking Group were running the club having proved a series of denials and general media furore.

Asked if he had anything to add, he replied: "No. I'm just delighted with the result."

Dundee manager Jocky Scott was fulsome in his praise of his team's efforts but incensed bythe referee Dougie McDonald's refusal to accept two strong penalty claims from the home side with the score at 1-1. Midfielder Craig Forsyth went down under a challenge from Rangers goalkeeper Neil Alexander, while Dundee also felt Griffiths was barged off the ball by Whittaker.

"I thought we performed brilliantly, especially up until Rangers made it 2-1," said Scott. "I thought we were well in the game and, at that point, we were on top. Unfortunately, we didn't score a second goal when we were on top. But I don't think we deserved to lose 3-1. Apart from the own goal, a couple of decisions went against us. We had two stonewall penalty kicks not given, I don't care what anyone says. For the first one, Craig Forsyth says the goalkeeper definitely touched him.

"There was no reason for him to go down as he would have been in a position to score. For the second one, a blind man could see it was a definite foul. Sometimes you get these decisions against the bigger teams, sometimes you don't."

Unsurprisingly, Smith did not concur with his close friend's assessment of the incidents.

"I didn't see the first one, because my view from the directors' box was obscured by a pole," said Smith, who was serving the last match of his four game SFA suspension from the technical area.

"But for the second one I felt it was a case of the Dundee player backing in to Steven Whittaker."