O’Dea vows to fight hard for his place

DUNDEE skipper Darren O’Dea has urged the Dark Blues to “keep calm” and carry on as they’ve been doing recently to finish 2017 with a flourish.

The Dens Park side travel to Motherwell on Saturday, before hosting Celtic on Boxing Day and St Johnstone the following Saturday before the league shuts down for the winter break.

It’s been a tough time of late for club captain O’Dea as he’s been unable to force his way back into the side for the past three games after picking up a two-match suspension last month.

For the Irish international, though, he’s got to practise what he preaches to the younger members of the squad if they find themselves out of the team on Saturday.

He said: “It’s been difficult because of course I want to play.

“I’ve been out of the team because I was suspended and the team has done really well so there’s no complaints.

“As a player, you need to accept that but what I have to do is work more, do extra to stay fit. If my chance comes round I’m ready.

“These are all the things I always tell players, younger players, about how to handle yourself when you’re out of the team, so I suppose it’s a time to be an example of what you should do when you’re out of the team.

“Certainly there’s frustration at not playing because you want to play and that’s the way it should be for everyone but there’s no complaints because the team’s done really, really well recently.”

Jack Hendry, Josh Meekings and Kerr Waddell have all been used in O’Dea’s absence and, with Julen Etxabeguren and Kosta Gadzhalov also in the wings, there’s plenty of competition for the centre-back position.

O’Dea, though, sees that as a good thing for the squad as a whole.

“It makes it a difficult job but, I suppose, a nice job for the manager,” he added.

“I think he can rely on the whole squad now. I don’t think if we had, like myself, a suspension or an injury, I don’t think it affects the team too much.