Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Dens gaffer hails ‘relentless’ Dee
NEIL McCann hailed his “relentless” Dundee side after their last-gasp comeback victory over Partick Thistle.
With the home side leading 1-0 going into the final 10 minutes, it looked like being a miserable week for the Dark Blues after their 3-2 defeat at 10-man Kilmarnock in midweek.
Simon Murray had other ideas, however, as he popped up with his first goal for his boyhood club with 84 minutes on the clock.
Then in the final minute of the match, the on-loan Hibs man was there again to nod in a dramatic winner to delight his manager.
Neil said: “I think it was a reward for a relentless push to get the win.
“You could see when we equalised the players weren’t happy j ust accepting a point.
“I have to say, maybe that’s gone against us a couple of times where we’ve been a bit gung ho and got caught at the back ourselves.
“If you go back to the first game at Firhill, we were so dominant in the game, cruising at 1-0 but lost two late goals — I know the exact feeling Alan Archibald is probably feeling, I can sympathise with him.
“I made a couple of changes that I thought made big impacts on the game.
“Jesse Curran frightened them a wee bit on that right side after his last performance here the last time.
“That maybe drew a bit of attention and opened up the middle of the park for us.
“A-Jay’s (Leitch-Smith) introduction for Sofien Moussa, who was spent through sheer workrate, worked too and A-Jay is clever.”
The main man, though, was Murray.
Since signing on loan for the rest of the season from Hibs on the last day of the transfer window, goals have eluded him but he got his reward for a lot of hard work.
“I’m so happy for Simon Murray” added Neil.
“I left him on until the end because I felt he’s been snatching at things because you can see how much he wanted to get off the mark.
“He snatched at a couple on Saturday and he just needed that wee break so I was delighted with A-Jay’s movement. He choked it across the goal for Simon to get his first one and then he’s sniffing again to get the second.
“I’m so happy for the boys, they deserve it. I’m happy for the fans, too, because we had a terrific support down on Saturday.”