McGinn wants Dens to be a family affair

DUNDEE full-back Paul McGinn says wee brother John is on the road to recovery after the training-ground prank at St Mirren which saw Steven Thompson accidentally throw a spiked pole into the youngster’s thigh. The Scotland Under-21 star ended up in crutches and missed the remainder of a season which saw the Buddies relegated. His contract ends in the summer and Paul (pictured) would love to see John kick-start his career by joining him and their other sibling Stephen at Dens. ‘John’s OK, he’s been in the house a bit more than usual which is annoying!’ said McGinn. ‘But he’s fine and walking alright now. He’ll soon recover. ‘After it happened, I had to go and pick him up from the training ground and it beggared belief. It was just a freak accident as Thommo has always been good with him. I was going to say John just had to take it on the chin but he actually had to take it in the leg! ‘Of course, I’d like to see him here with us as John’s a good player. You forget he’s only 20, but he’s played so many games already and is one of St Mirren’s top players.’ Dundee are on a five-game losing streak and defender McGinn wants to see that halted against today’s visitors Aberdeen. ‘We don’t want to take that into next season. It’s the last thing you want. We’ve caused Aberdeen problems this season and have scored goals against them.’ Meanwhile, former Rangers player Kane Hemmings — now with Barnsley — has signed a pre-contract with Dundee but David Clarkson, Paul Heffernan and Kyle Benedictus will not be offered new deals.