Dundee managing director John Nelms praised the efforts of the Dens Park ground staff despite the postponement of the club’s match against Rangers, saying that they would have got the game on had it not been an early kick off.

Nelms revealed that staff had been working on the pitch from 5am on Sunday morning after heavy overnight rain, but their work was in vain as the pitch was ultimately deemed unplayable by match official Don Robertson.

That call came despite an earlier inspection by local referee Craig Fordyce, with Rangers angry that the final decision to postpone the match came just as they arrived at the ground around an hour and a half before kick-off.

But Nelms said it was the right call to give the game every chance of going ahead, and he believes that if his staff had a few more hours, they would have managed to get the surface in playable condition.

“Most of the guys were here before 5am,” Nelms said.

“I arrived just before 7 am. We needed as many able-bodied people with forks to help get the game on.

 READ MORE: Don Robertson explains Dundee vs Rangers postponement

“We had 11 guys out there and technically ran out of time. If it had been a 3pm kick-off the game would have been on.

“I am not an expert on the pitch. Our experts said we could get the game on if it was delayed until just after noon and it would definitely have been on at 3pm.

“We had two pitch inspections. The first one they decided to delay to give the groundsmen more time to do their work. We had 11 guys out there forking and putting sand on the pitch, things of that nature. We thought we could get it ready in time.

"We were supposed to have six mm of rain last night. We had over 12 mm. We have had consistent rain since game on Wednesday, when our pitch was fine. There are only two areas where the ball was not bouncing correctly.

“Instead of giving us time to work on those areas a little longer the referee said he had to make a call at that moment in time, which I understand. He made the call at 10.15am to end the match.

“It is the referee’s decision. He is just following the rules. He felt it was unplayable at that moment in time and there is nothing we can do about that.

“I am sure the league wanted to get the game on, and we certainly wanted to get the game on. We did everything we could to get the game on.”

Rangers manager Philippe Clement criticised the Dundee pitch following the postponement, saying he couldn’t understand why the Dens Park pitch was the only one in the senior game in Scotland that was deemed unplayable over the weekend.

But Nelms defended the surface, despite this being the third time that a match has been called off at the stadium this term, after postponements of games against Aberdeen and St Johnstone.

“The pitch is fine,” he said.

“You have to remember we have five named storms that came through and caused issues. For whatever reason, Dundee got hit really, really bad.

“The Aberdeen game we thought if we delayed it, we could have got it on. We actually trained on the park after it. We felt we could have played it.

"On Wednesday night, the pitch played perfectly well. It is just the fact from Wednesday we have had a lot of rain, heavy rain and last night we got more heavy rain. That is why we got everyone in as early as possible to try and get the pitch playable.

“Usually, if the pitch wasn’t draining we would have a big lake in front of the away stand but there is no lake there. The pitch is draining fine.

“We are doing all we can do. It is all we can do. We called in even more volunteers, with forks, to get as many people out on the park as possible. That is all you can do at that moment in time. Fighting against Mother Nature is difficult.

“We are going to continue to do what we do. The guys are doing a good job and unfortunately Mother Nature got us this time.”

Meanwhile, Dundee manager Tony Docherty was hugely disappointed that his team had been denied the opportunity to build some momentum following the midweek win over Aberdeen.

“Huge disappointment and frustration,” Docherty said.

“We have been in very good form lately, our last home games we have won three and drawn one against Kilmarnock got an injury time equaliser.

READ MORE: Rangers boss Philippe Clement blasts Dundee pitch and call-off process

“We are in very good form at home going into this match, I have a lot of very disappointed players in there that I need to go and address now, because we wanted to continue that home form and hopefully get a result to take us back into the top six.

“However, it is not to be, the officials have made a decision. And we need to dust ourselves down and get ready for the next game.”