THE JOKE’S ON THISTLE
Paul: Gaffer’s rant has fired us up for Jags clash
PAUL McGOWAN has admitted Neil McCann was right to rip into Dundee after Tuesday’s Tynecastle horror show.
Now he’s relishing the chance to bounce straight back against Partick Thistle at Dens today.
The Dark Blues are still smarting from a 2-0 defeat to Hearts which boss Neil McCann labelled a “joke”.
McCann’s men were guilty of rolling over in Edinburgh as their furious gaffer let rip post-match in the wake of such a paltry performance.
Now Dundee have a quick-fire chance to make amends when Alan Archibald’s Jags roll up at Dens with 30-year-old midfielder McGowan desperate to see how his team-mates go about making it up to the fans.
McGowan said: “I’m looking forward to seeing how we react.
“We owe ourselves one more than anything. We let ourselves down badly.
“We obviously let the coaching staff and the fans down too.
“Did we get a bit complacent? I don’t know.
“We need to stand up and be counted now because Partick don’t deserve to be down where they are in the league table.
“They have players who can hurt you which we must be wary of and have been consistently good over the past few seasons.
“We can’t expect just to turn up and roll over Partick.
“We’ve got to outplay them to get the result.”
McGowan confessed McCann was entitled to savage them and believes his comments have raised the stakes going into this afternoon’s basement battle.
He said: “The manager was more hurt than angry. He had every right to be upset and said his piece to us.
“After the game you try to analyse it but we were off the pace and the only person to get pass marks was our keeper Elliot Parish.
“We have to get everybody right at it on the park.
“Now, with Patrick getting such a great result against Motherwell, it makes this game even bigger.
“The last match we played at Firhill was one of the best first-half displays in my time here.
“We missed the penalty at 1-0 then went on to lose. I still don’t know how we came away with nothing.
“They have quality in their team but we need to show a major improvement.”
Meanwhile, McCann is backing his troops to make up for Tuesday’s flop after revealing they’ve been quietly licking their wounds.
He said: “I would like to think the boys are ready to go – all guns blazing.
“We just want to put things right. We did a lot wrong on Tuesday night.
“We’ve had our say and I’ve made it clear where I stand on that performance.
“Actually, they’ve been quiet. They’re maybe a bit sheepish because they know what I expect. That’s a good thing.”
Winger Roarie Deacon is still struggling with a knock from midweek.