James McPake guided his side to victory at Somerset Park on Friday night as goals from Declan McDaid and Paul McGowan gave Dundee a 2-1 victory.
The manager had previously pointed out it was a difficult venue to visit and expressed his pride at his team for the win, he told DeeTV, “I said it through the week that it is one of the hardest places to come. They’ve shown that over the past couple of seasons. It’s a tough venue and they make it tough because they are a very decent side.”
“I’m very proud of the players and they way they handled that, especially late on. It was a bit déjà vu being a goal in front with five minutes to go, at no point in that last five minutes did I feel uncomfortable, I felt we stood up when we had to, our centre backs were great at getting the ball out of dangerous areas. There was a real together tonight for the players, the ones coming on as well did a great shift. It was a really good performance at a tough place to come.”
“There was some good play, particularly in the first half. We moved it about really well. Away from home we don’t get the luxury that we do at Dens of having time on the ball but I still thought that we were brave to play out.”
It was a good team performance from the Dark Blues and James praised the individual performances within that, going on to say, “I thought Kane Hemmings was outstanding. No goals for him tonight but I think if you ask the Ayr United centre backs how that game was for them, they wouldn’t have enjoyed that.”
“He was taking the ball in, he was running down the sides, working really hard. There is more to Kane Hemmings’ game than goals. I know that cause I’ve trained against him and I’ve played with him. I thought tonight was his best performance in terms of hold up play and getting us up the pitch.”
“There were others as well behind him, Declan McDaid with another great goal. Paul McGowan was fantastic again. You bring people like Cammy Kerr in who had been out, dipped a wee bit of form and was disappointed but then he comes in and does a great job on probably the most in form player in the league tonight.”
“Andrew Nelson, who again hasn’t had many minutes and he’s been frustrated but what a shift he put in tonight for our football club and late on he was tired. That’s all you can ask of your players that they give you everything and I’d never criticise him for that because he works hard and will keep doing that.”
Conor Hazard made his debut having only arrived from Celtic on emergency loan on Thursday morning. The manager also praised the goalkeeper for his performance, he said, “I thought he looked very composed, he had a great save, you need goalkeepers to make big saves particularly away from home. I thought he commanded his area very well. One day training and coming down here to a tough place, he was comfortable to take the ball and play.”
“Unfortunate for Cal cause he has worked very hard but I had a decision to make and I went with Conor and it worked well tonight.”
Subscribers can watch post match video interviews with James and Declan McDaid, along with highlights and a full match replay on DeeTV – click here
