Rangers interim manager Barry Ferguson was pleased with his team’s thrilling 4-3 victory over Dundee at Dens Park on Saturday night, but expressed concern over old habits creeping back into their performance.
Despite coming from 3-1 down with 15 minutes remaining to claim all three points in a dramatic Scottish Premiership encounter, Ferguson admitted he was far from satisfied with the overall display.
"I’m really happy with the three points, but overall I saw so many old habits creeping in," he said after the game. "I just had a word with them about it. I'm not going to allow that to happen. So, it's something that we really need to work on. We've got a full week now and that's something that me and my staff, and the players will sit down and we will go through things, we will go out on the grass. Because at stages in the game, I was a bit baffled at times.
"But one thing I will say about them is they showed character again. I keep using this word all the time, but this has been labelled against them."
The visitors showed resilience and character to fight back rather than sink further when Scott Tiffoney put the Dark Blues two goals in front for a second time just after the hour mark.
However, a stunning long-range strike from captain James Tavernier, followed by another from substitute Tom Lawrence, brought Rangers level before Cyriel Dessers sealed the win with a dramatic 93rd-minute goal.
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Ferguson was quick to acknowledge that his side's performance was far from flawless, despite the dramatic comeback. This marked the fifth time in Rangers' last seven games that they had fallen two goals behind before finding their rhythm.
He also praised Dessers for refusing to let his earlier struggles in front of goal affect him, with the Nigerian striker stepping up to deliver the match-winner.
"We can’t be happy with the performance. I need to get to the bottom of it, and I will get to the bottom of it," he told Sky Sports. "We need to sort a few things going forward before Hibs come to Ibrox.
"I felt towards the end, the momentum was with us and thankfully we got the winning goal.
"I felt Cyriel was unlucky with his chances because he struck them well. You've got to give the goalkeeper credit as he made some really good saves. I've always said Cyriel gives you everything he's got. There are sides to his game he can improve, but the big man's up for it, he's a willing listener, and he throughly deserved his goal at the end there.
"I'm certain they would have lost it [a couple of months ago]. So, that's a big improvement for me. But I'm looking at the overall game where we can handle situations a lot better. That's my job as the manager and the coaching staff. We will sit down on Monday morning and go through a lot of things.
"Listen, the guys are receptive, they are good listeners, they understand parts of the game were way off what we expect. But the main thing is we come away with the three points, and again, they rolled our sleeves up, they dug deep, and got the winner in the end."
