Derek McInnes: Dundee equaliser was like ‘balloon popping’ for Rangers

Derek McInnes claimed Dundee’s second goal in the 2-2 draw against Rangers was like “a balloon popping” as the Light Blues passed up the chance to go top of the William Hill Premiership at Dens Park.

The home side took a deserved lead in the 38th minute through striker Bradley Fink but Gers attacker Badredine Bouanani fired in a stunning equaliser three minutes later with his first Rangers goal.

The Govan side came out of the traps quickly at the start of the second half and took the lead on the hour mark with a stunning long-range strike by midfielder Nico Raskin, and it looked like they were set to go on and take all three points.

However, in the 68th minute Dundee midfielder Callum Jones capitalised on a mistake by Gers skipper Dan Neil to level, and ultimately the visitors ended the night one point behind leaders Celtic, who can increase their lead at home to Hearts on Sunday.

Gers boss McInnes said: “The performance for 20-25 minutes culminated in Nico’s goal. It should be a winning goal because it was such a high-quality goal.

“The disappointment is that we had the game there, we were dominant. We had the game by the scruff of the neck.

“Dundee were struggling to get out of their own half. We were in such a good place. It was almost like a balloon popping when we made the mistake, which can happen.

“We never really got back to that same level. Although we did have enough balls in their box to score and we should be scoring.

“With some of the stats and some of the touches we had, we should be scoring more than two goals tonight. So a combination of that and us also coming away from home, we shouldn’t need to score three goals to win a game of football.

“I think Dundee will be a good team this season. I think they’ll cause teams problems. But the disappointment is clear, because we came here to win and we haven’t done that.”

Rangers went into the game on the back of a seven-game winning run which made it all the sweeter for Dundee boss Steven Pressley.

The former Ibrox defender said: “To use an old cliche, it was a game of two halves.

“I thought our first-half performance was a really outstanding and very dominant performance. We restricted Rangers to very few chances and we created a number of chances and chances that we felt we could have capitalised on more.

“We were really strong in the duels and the second balls, the aspects of the game that I spoke about prior to the game.

“But the pleasing thing as well is when we got on to those second balls, we were courageous in our play and we really tried to play. So I couldn’t have been prouder of the group.

“But the one thing we did expect was a reaction from Rangers. We had to ride our luck at times. Against the Old Firm, you have to dig in and suffer a bit.

“We did all of those things and then we still came back for more. So really, really proud of the group.””