James McPake spoke to DeeTV following the 1-1 draw with Raith Rovers at the Kilmac Stadium on Saturday.
Charlie Adam’s goal had put Dundee infront but a late equaliser from Raith sub Musonda meant the points were shared, the disappointment was clear to see from the manager following the match, he said, “I’m devastated for the players, who I thought for the first half played with that zip that we wanted to.”
“We were worthy of going in at half time in the lead. You’ve got to be clinical. We made chances and I think we had to be better with that but when you are in front set plays are so important.”
“They are a dangerous team going forward and if they had cut us open (for the goal) you hold your hands up but it wasn’t. We got the warning before when number 14 is standing on his own then the ball goes out and comes back in and he’s on his own again.”
“At any level, never mind this level that is absolutely criminal and a really disappointing way to lose points.”
“The real bugbear for me today is that it comes from a set play”
“Set plays are so important in football, you can lose games or lose points through switching off at a set play and with five minutes to go you just make sure you clear you box but today unfortunately we didn’t do that.”
“You get to a point in a game when a team is chasing. The second goal in games is crucial, if you get that it’s a completely different finish but that’s all ifs and buts.”
Dundee had chances to add to their lead, the best actually coming from a Raith boot when Hendry turned Jordan Marshall’s cross off his own bar, but after failing to add another it was a set pieces late on which got Raith their point, the manager was frustrated to lose points in that manner, he continued, “Similar to Morton last week, with nothing to lose they throw everything at you but that’s not an excuse. We’ve got to be big enough to take that and we did for spells. Teams are going to have a go and throw caution to the wind, again I can accept that if they do break you down though. We did get deep and that is something we need to address, but I think that is natural in football, that it happens when you are trying to hold onto a lead. If we had got the second goal it would have been different, we didn’t, but the real bugbear for me today is that it comes from a set play and that is something we should be controlling. We have enough in there and it’s something we work tirelessly on. We weren’t great in their box either and particularly with the delivery Charlie has got we should be more effective.”
“To lose two points in a game we certainly deserved to win, it’s really disappointing to do it in that manner.”
Subscribers can watch post match video interviews with James and Charlie Adam on DeeTV – click here
