LEADING MAN
Meekings ready to give back after Dee kept him as captain
JOSH MEEKINGS insists he’s more than ready to repay James McPake’s faith in him as Dundee skipper after finally making his long-awaited return.
The stopper was back in action in the 2-0 Championship win over Arbroath as he put a nightmare battle with injury behind him.
And the 27-year-old revealed how a heart-to-heart with boss McPake him about staying skipper in the summer boosted confidence and gave him the push needed to come back even stronger.
Now he believes it’s payback time in their quest for the title.
Ahead of today’s visit of Partick Thistle, Meekings said: “The gaffer kept me as captain at the start of the season and I’m grateful for that. It’s an absolute honour to do that for this club.
“He took me aside and asked me how I felt about it. I told him I enjoyed doing it and thrived on the responsibility.
“I’ve not been able to fulfil it as much as I would have liked so far but hopefully I can progress and build on things.
“I want things to build everything around me. That’s the aim in the coming months because we know as a club where we want to get to.
“It’s always a challenge coming back from injuries long-term but the manager has been patient and the physio, Gerry, has been great.
“I can’t thank them enough but hopefully all the hard work will prove to have been worth it in the coming months.
“I want to prove their trust in me was right. I want to kick on and hopefully the club can as well.”
Meekings reckons Dundee are gradually gelling but knows they’ll have to be at their best to break down Ian McCall’s Jags.
He said: “We have to be positive. The boys all work hard. Nobody can question our effort although sometimes the quality has been lacking. “We’re getting to know each other better week-by-week. We know we’re going to have tough games and teams are going to come to Dens and sit in, make it difficult for us. “But that’s up to us to break them down.” Meanwhile, Jags midfielder Stuart Bannigan insists a trip to Dundee is the ideal chance to get back on track after defeat to Queens in their last outing. He said: “The last league game was disappointing but this is an opportunity to get things moving again. “The international break has helped, it’s allowed the gaffer to get his feet under the table as it’s been hectic. “He knows the boys a lot better, there’s no excuses. We know we need to get ourselves up the table so we’ll be doing our best to do that.”