As far as optimism goes, Rangers were blown full of positive energy as they made the Saturday-night trip to Dundee on the back of seven straight wins.
However, a Dan Neil error felt “like a balloon popping”, said manager Derek McInnes, resulting in the Ibrox side fluffing their chance to move back to the Scottish Premiership summit after a gripping 2-2 draw at Dens Park.
McInnes’ men were punished for a disjointed first half when the impressive hosts went ahead through Bradley Fink, but Badredine Bouanani fired in a leveller just before the break.
Rangers lifted their intensity and level of dominance after the interval and were heading for an eighth consecutive victory when Nicolas Raskin slammed in a long-range stunner.
But a mishit Neil backpass to goalkeeper Ivor Pandur was pounced on by Callum Jones to earn Dundee a deserved point, opening the door for Celtic to extend their lead at the top to four points when they welcome Hearts on Sunday (15:00 BST).
“We’ve made a mistake for Dundee’s equaliser and it was like a balloon popping,” McInnes told BBC Scotland. “We then had to dig deep and go again, and we never quite managed to get to the same levels.
“It does feel like a missed opportunity, but in fairness to Dundee they were good value in the first half – it shows you why they are where they are in the league.
“But we can’t come away from home and have to score three goals to win a game.”