McGowan well aware of Firhill men’s threat

Neil McCann’s men and a clash with struggling Partick Thistle, the top flight’s basement club who, nine games in, are still in search of their first league victory.

That suggests Dundee could be in line for their first away success of the campaign and three points is certainly the aim.

McGowan, though, warns this is a task that, in terms of difficultly, is not that far short of going to a place like Celtic.

“I am a big admirer of Partick and I think Alan Archibald has done a great job there.

“The way they play football it’s quite surprising they are in this situation but a couple of wins and they are out of it.

“We know they are a good team and they have a good squad, they’ve been dealt a bad hand with injuries so far this season.

“We have to go there thinking of them as the team that got to the top six last season and, as I say, it only takes a couple of victories in this league and you are right back up there. They’ll know that.

“If we keep playing the way we’ve been playing, we will be confident. We’ve been playing well and we want to keep that going.

“We can do that against Partick, but I know how tough it’s going to be because they are a real good side and I expect them to turn things round.

“For us, it’s about consistency and playing the way we can on a regular basis. That’s always been the issue since I’ve been here.”

Paul McGowan says Dundee were gutted after their narrow loss at Celtic.