Rangers' defeat by Dundee '˜unacceptable' says Graeme Murty

Rangers caretaker manager Graeme Murty described last night's 2-1 defeat by Dundee as unacceptable after another bleak outing for the Ibrox club, writes '¨Alan Pattullo.

On the day when Aberdeen’s Derek McInnes, one of several candidates to succeed the sacked Pedro Caixinha, appeared to rule himself out of the running, the Ibrox side proceeded to show why this could be interpreted as a wise decision.

Murty was aghast at the manner in which his side fell to a second defeat inside six days. “We didn’t play well enough to win the game and we sent thousands of fans home unhappy after they came out on a bitterly cold night,” he said. “They went home disappointed because we didn’t do our job properly and I include myself in that.

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“We needed more composure in the final third and we gave poor goals away. The second one was even worse than the first and we can’t defend that way.”

A double by Mark O’Hara lifted Dundee off the bottom of the table. Josh Windass’ 66th minute equaliser had briefly given the sizeable Rangers support something to cheer about.

Murty’s thoughts turned to them after the game and he admitted the current situation, with Rangers’ prolonged search for a manager having now stretched to a month, was completely unsatisfactory.

“It’s not an ideal situation,” he said. “If it was ideal, I wouldn’t be here talking. But we have to deal with the situation as it is.

“The players gave good effort but they need to look at themselves in the mirror and decide what they can do better to get this club rolling again.

“That result isn’t acceptable. The last two results aren’t acceptable for this football club. We need to do better collectively,” added Murty, pictured.

After waiting 25 years for a win at Dens over Rangers, Dundee have now beaten them in two successive games at the ground.

Dundee assistant manager Graham Gartland was full of praise for his players. “We hope it can be a springboard,” he said.

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“Our performances have been better than this one but we haven’t won. But we showed more resilience tonight. It came out in spades.”

Dundee manager Neil McCann didn’t speak to the emdia. He left Dens Park straight after the match to attend to an urgent family matter.