Derek McInnes weighs in on the 'balloon-popping' moment against Dundee as Rangers suffer momentum killer

Rangers boss Derek McInnes wasn’t going to dig out midfielder Dan Neil for his error leading to the Dundee equaliser in their 2-2 draw - however he does reckon it killed his side’s momentum.

The Light Blues were on the brink of their seventh successive Scottish Premiership triumph at Dens Park, only to be hit by a late sucker punch from Dundee midfielder Callum Jones, who capitalised on Neil’s short back pass in the 69th minute. Before the error, Rangers had played themselves into the game after a shaky first half, two wonder strikes from midfielder Nico Raskin and winger Badredine Bouanani overturned Dee’s striker Bradley Fink’s opener.

The stalemate in the City of Discovery means Rangers miss the opportunity to go top of the table and put pressure on leaders Celtic, who face third place Hearts later in a repeat fixture of last season’s dramatic title race finale. After the match, McInnes discussed the missed chances of his side to gain all three points, while claiming the second half ‘balloon-popping’ error killed their momentum.

‘Balloon-popping’ moment killed Rangers’ momentum - McInnes

The Rangers boss said: “The performance for 20-25 minutes (at the start of the second half) 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 a mistake, which can happen.

“We never really got back to that same level. Although we did have enough balls in their box to score. We should be scoring. With some of the stats and some of the touches we had, we should be scoring more than two goals a night. So a combination of that and us also coming away from home, should they need to score three goals to win a game of football.”

Manager refuses to dig out Neil for error

He continued: “The second goal is a mistake. The press comes on and, listen, I'm not going to criticise any of my players for it, but it is a mistake and it was difficult to say anything other than that, because we were so good in the game and you've just never seen a way back in for Dundee at that time.

“I think what it does do, it kills your momentum, first of all, because football's not just a physical game, but mentally. But it also gives Dundee something to hang on to. All of a sudden Dundee are thinking, we might just get something here.

“But we still worked the ball into good enough areas. We still have two wide players and two strikers. We still got enough balls in the box. We still had opportunities. We still made them defend. So although we didn't quite get to the same sort of level, I still thought we were the dominant team and we were the team that looked more likely to win it.”

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