RANGERS manager Dick
Advocaat said last night his side were still in the driving seat in the race for the championship despite their recent stuttering run of form.
Speaking after his side's 1-1 draw against Dundee, Advocaat said it was up to Celtic to claw back the four-point cushion his side had over their Parkhead rivals.
He also paid a huge compliment to Dundee claiming that any team in the world would have struggled against them.
''We are not four points behind Celtic, we are four points ahead of them,'' said a defiant Advocaat, whose team had a 13 point advantage at the top of the table earlier in the season.
Turning his attention to last night's match Advocaat praised the fighting spirit of the Dens Park club. ''Any team in the world could play against this Dundee team and drop points,'' he said.
He denied the pressure was showing on his team who, like Celtic, have five matches left. Last night's result puts even more emphasis on the Old Firm encounter in 13 days' time, the outcome of which looks certain to decide the league race.
Advocaat conceded that once again his side, who have taken only four points out of the last 12, had created but failed to take numerous chances.
Clearly going for a win Advocaat had played a three-man defence of Sergio Porrini, Lorenzo Amoruso and Vidmar. However, despite his positive approach Iain Anderson, who scored Dundee's goal in 22 minutes, said the formation meant there were spaces out wide for his side to exploit.
Advocaat said: ''I'm very disappointed but you must give full credit to Dundee. They played as if they were playing in a cup final. Everybody was so involved, they were well organised, had many players behind the ball and were very sharp.
Preferring not to criticise his own players' efforts, Advocaat instead chose to praise the opposition, making it clear he felt his side had tried all they could to break down the Dundee defence in which goalkeeper Robert
Douglas was outstanding.
''If Dundee play against Rangers and Celtic it seems to give them a lift,'' he said. ''Sometimes you need a little bit of luck but that didn't come our way tonight.''
Dundee manager Jocky Scott was in understandably upbeat mood after the match which put his side seven points ahead of bottom club Dunfermline.
Scott said that being forced to move the game from Dens Park to Tannadice because of rebuilding work at their ground had made no difference to his players.
''I felt we had enough chances to win the game,'' said Scott. ''I told my players to be positive because in our last three matches against Rangers we had been negative in our approach and got a right doing.''
He said the result was even more poignant in the light of the fact that there had been so much talk about a possible takeover of the club by their rivals, Dundee United.
''For my players to hear on the radio that there might be a merger or a takeover isn't good. However, they've overcome all that talk this week and come away with a good result. Everybody wrote us off after only four games of the season but we've done remarkably well since then.''
Goalscorer Anderson said that Advocaat's decision to go three at the back had made lifer easier for his side as there were a lot more space down the flanks.
''Their three players in the centre of defence seemed to stay quite tight, meaning there was lots of one on one's out wide. We played it well and I felt particularly near the end we had the chances
to win it.
''We were a lot more positive and came off the field feeling we had done enough to win. Rangers are a great attacking team with great players but we showed we had a few good players ourselves.''
q Match report - Page 3
PREMIER LEAGUE
PWDLFAPt
Rangers312065662866
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St Johnstone3012108353646
Motherwell3181013314434
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Dundee319715275234
Dundee Utd308814333732
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Dunfermline3141512234827
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