IT WAS AJ OKE DISPLAY
NEIL McCANN savaged his Dundee team last night after defeat at Hearts pulled them back into the drop zone.
The Dark Blues boss did not spare the feelings of his top-team stars following their 2-0 defeat at Tynecastle as they dropped to 11th in the Premiership table.
Dundee were off the pace as Hearts scored in either half from Esmael Goncalves and Christophe Berra to bolster their position in the top six.
McCann said: “It was a shocking performance, absolutely shocking. I did not see it coming and I will not accept it.
“Everything at this club is geared towards winning. Everything we do has a high purpose and a high standard towards an end result and I will not spare the players from tonight’s performance.
“It was a joke. When you set standards you should stick to them.
“When you fall below those standards then performances like that one creep in.
“I’m not accepting it. You can tell from my tone I’m not happy with them – and they know it. Our fans who travelled from Dundee were short-changed tonight.”
McCann may have been raging but Jambos counterpart Craig Levein hailed his kids after playing a trio of teenagers for much of the game at Tynecastle, which suffered another evacuation half an hour after the final whistle.
He played two 16-year-olds, sub Harry Cochrane – a first-half replacement for Arnaud Djoum – and debutant Anthony McDonald as well as Lewis Moore, 19.
Levein said: “It wasn’t a risk to play them if you watch them every day in training. Anthony, along with Harry and three or four others, have been standout performers at their age group.
“I’m surprised they are involved so early in their careers but they’re good players. I believe in them and so do the first-team squad.
“It’s not as if these lads have been parachuted into the team. They have been training with the first team since the summer so the senior players know them and trust them.
“It was a good night for them and the team, although I didn’t feel truly comfortable until the last 10 minutes.
“That’s another clean sheet and Isma and Christophe got on the scoresheet so they feel good, which is most important to me. We’ve had a couple of tough months recently and I hope that’s us turned the corner now but we’ll see.”