McPake ‘takes the hit’ for poor form

DUNDEE manager James McPake says he must “take the hit” for their inconsistent form this season in t he wa ke of thei r latest loss at Dunfermline.

The Dark Blues went down 2-0 at East End Park on Friday night as the Pars moved to within a point of the Dee in fourth spot in the Championship.

“It was a really poor start – no tempo, no drive and no real fluency to our game and not enough of our senior players were standing up and being counted,” he said.

“When you’re playing against a team that’s lost their last five in a row we should have been able to take the game to them. We should have been better than we were.

“We worked all week but it’s all good and well doing that, we turn up there and it just doesn’t click.

“I take the hit on it but what I will say is that I believe in my ability to get this right and I’m working extremely hard, as are the players but unfortunately it’s not showing.”

Although previously James maintained there will be few changes to his squad, he has now conceded that will be reviewed.

With the arrival of goalkeeper Conor Hazard on loan from Celtic, Dundee will now look to strengthen more before Friday’s deadline (see left).

“We need to find a way, we need help and need to bring in a couple of players that will freshen the place up,” he added.

“It sounds a bit daft because we had so many in and out in the summer but we’re a club that’s been on the downward spiral for the last couple of years.

“For whatever reasons we’ve not quite got it right yet but we need to and we need to do it quickly.

“It is concerning for the fact we see so much during the week.

“It’s not down to a lack of work or belief in what we’re doing because we see some real good footballers during the week, some real good stuff but it does not transfer out there.

“We’re low on confidence, we know that but this was a chance to turn the tables on a club like people do to us, people come to our place and turn the fans on us.

“They’re on a bad run and we should have been doing that on Friday night. We were too safe in possession and we conceded two easy goals that are criminal at any level in football.”

Celtic goalkeeper Conor Hazard, who was at Dundee on an emergency loan earlier in the term, has re-joined the Dee until the end of the season.