O’Hara: Let’s put down marker with County win
MARK O’HARA believes Dundee can prove to their top-six Premiership rivals they mean business by beating Ross County today. Dens Park manager Neil McCann was called in as caretaker boss five games from the end of last season to rescue the Dark Blues from relegation, before finally taking on the job full-time. But now midfielder O’Hara says his side are determined to make a significant improvement on their eventual tenth-place finish — and victory over the Dingwall men first up is just the way to show they have serious intentions. ‘County have some good quality all over the park, so it will be tough,’ he admitted. ‘But I think it’s a real chance for us to put a marker down if we can get a win. It will show we mean business this season. ‘We have County at home and then Hamilton away in our first two games of the season and the manager has said we need to be targeting two wins. ‘He wants to install a winning mentality into us and if we can get off to a good start, it will make the whole season easier. ‘Last term, we didn’t get off to the greatest of openings and we felt the effects of that towards the end of the campaign. ‘So it’s important we avoid repeating that this time round. ‘A club the size of this one should be aiming for the top six. ‘Last year was disappointing to finish so low and the manager has already told us we need to be aiming as high as possible. ‘There’s no reason, with the squad we have this year, that we can’t do that.’ County midfielder Michael Gardyne knows his side are in for a tough start against McCann’s men. ‘It’s the first game of the season and I’d say Dundee and ourselves are evenly matched,’ he said. ‘The last couple of years we have finished not too far apart — and it will likely be the same again this year. ‘McCann has come in and has been getting a lot of plaudits from their players but, hopefully, we can go down there and get the result.’