Giovanni van Bronckhorst issues Rangers fans plea after 'disruptive' Dens Park protests

Rangers manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst has urged the club’s supporters to temper their protests against the contentious Old Firm friendly in Sydney later this year after admitting their actions at Dens Park on Sunday had an adverse impact on his players.

Play was halted three times as Rangers fans threw a barrage of toilet rolls and tennis balls into the goalmouth in front of the Bob Shankly Stand at the start of both halves of the game.

Rangers recovered from the concession of an early goal scored by Christie Elliott, equalising through Aaron Ramsey’s first goal for the club before Connor Goldson grabbed a late winner.

It keeps Rangers three points behind Celtic in the Premiership title race with seven rounds of fixtures - including two Old Firm clashes - remaining.

Rangers manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst celebrates at the full-time whistle after his team's 2-1 win over Dundee at Dens Park. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)

While van Bronckhorst defended the right of the Rangers fans to make their feelings known over the Ibrox club’s decision to join Celtic in the Sydney Super Cup, he wants to avoid any repeat of the scenes which helped prevent his team find their rhythm and flow against Dundee.

“Of course it’s disruptive because you want to play the game,” said van Bronckhorst. “We had three or four breaks because of the cleaning up.

“So it’s a disruption but I know there are emotions. To show their emotions is good to see, but you need to have the balance.

“It was disruptive for us today. I understand the emotions of the fans but we will go back with three points in our bag.

“Today could have cost us two big points, but we kept the belief and worked hard to win the game in difficult circumstances.”

There was another delay in play in the second half when two sprinklers on the Dens Park pitch sprang into life, prompting a rueful reaction from van Bronckhorst after his team’s struggle to get their passing game going on the dry and rutted surface.

“The pitch wasn’t ideal for us to play,” he said. “It had no water until during the game – so that was a bit strange.

“But we have to overcome these situations. We did everything to get a good result and make sure we went off the pitch as winners.”

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