Giovanni van Bronckhorst claims Rangers fans were ‘right to boo’ after lacklustre Dundee display

Giovanni van Bronckhorst believes Rangers fans had every right to boo their side off the park following a narrow 1-0 Scottish League Cup quarter-final win over Dundee at Ibrox.

The Light Blues boss made seven changes to his starting line-up from the side that began Sunday’s top-flight victory over Motherwell and they began with the kind of intensity that was lacking in North Lanarkshire.

Veteran midfielder Steven Davis headed home in the 10th minute against their Championship opponents but the hosts failed to add to their tally and were forced to settle for a drab victory which was met be a chorus of loud boos from various sections of the home support.

Rangers will now take on Aberdeen at Hampden Park on January 14/15 for a place in the final but Van Bronckhorst acknowledged his side must get the supporters back on side after the latest in a growing list of flat performances.

Asked for his thoughts on the crowd reception to his players display at the full-time whistle, Van Bronckhorst said: “They are right, I can understand, I wasn’t happy either. When you play well you should get the applause but when you don’t play well at a club like Rangers they should boo you.

“We need to know and feel that the performance in the last half-an-hour is not good enough and we need to improve. You’re never happy after a bad performance and the crowd reacts to it, which they have every right to.

“All we can do, I can do is keep working hard with my players to make sure we are improving and can make the fans proud. We’re still there in the league, working and fighting to become champions.

“We’re still in the cup competitions, but obviously you’ll also be honest and see when the performances aren’t good you have to improve. We need to analyse the game and speak to the players who under-performed and make sure it doesn’t happen again.

“In the last 25 minutes we dropped our levels and we didn’t have any good movement. I wasn’t happy with our performance and we need to improve.”

Van Bronckhorst welcomed back Kemar Roofe from a lengthy injury absence as the striker stepped off the bench in the second half to make his first appearance since the Europa League final back in May.

The Dutchman admitted: “I’m very pleased because he had a lot of injuries, he worked hard and his drive is there. He hasn’t played for so long so you could see the energy he brought.

“It’s good for me to have him back. You need injured players back as quickly as possible so I’m pleased for Kemar that he is back now.”