McCann set for ‘needle’ with Lennon

DUNDEE manager Neil McCann insists he will not be surprised if there is ‘needle’ on the touchline when he locks horns with Hibernian counterpart Neil Lennon. Former Scotland and Rangers winger McCann is adamant that there will be no lack of passion from the technical areas in Sunday’s meeting at Dens Park. Lennon has already been forced to defend his recent

goal celebrations at Rangers when he cupped his ears and made an arm gesture to the home fans. McCann, meanwhile, is desperate to lead Dundee to their first Premiership points of the season after opening with three straight defeats against Ross County, Hamilton and Aberdeen. Asked what it will be like on the touchline against Lennon, McCann joked: ‘Fireworks — it will be an undercard to the Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor fight. ‘The good thing here at Dens is that the dugouts are both quite far away. That should help the fourth official. ‘We’re both fiery characters, I think we’re both passionate about the game. We believe and back our sides and at times we let that emotion boil over but the most important thing is that both of us want to win the game of football. ‘I don’t think there will be any surprise if we get a bit of needle and a bit of shouting back and forth towards the dugout because we want decisions to go our way and sometimes you don’t get them. ‘I think we’re in for a cracking match, Hibs have been fantastic this season. I know they suffered a poor result at the weekend against Hamilton, as we did, but I think the one thing that Hibs and Neil Lennon have had is a constant, almost, winning feeling coming up from the Championship last season. ‘They’ve got the know-how and they’ve done really well, they’ve added quality to the side.’ McCann is keen to recruit a new striker before the visit of the Leith side, having been hit by injuries to Marcus Haber and Faissal El Bakhtaoui, who both came off in Saturday’s defeat to Aberdeen, as well as Sofien Moussa and Craig Wighton. Cypriot striker James Demetriou and Ugandan midfielder Khalid Aucho have been on trial, while McCann is also reportedly keen on Colchester marksman Denny Johnstone. ‘The diagnosis for Marcus Haber, who has done really well since he’s come in, is not very good, so of course we’re a bit light in that department and we have been unlucky with the new players that have come in,’ added McCann. ‘We’ve had a number of the new guys go in and out the side and I think possibly it’s been partly bad luck but it’s also getting used to the training that we’re trying to implement. ‘We’ve got a good squad and if we don’t get anyone in we’ll just have to deal with it but I’d like to get a body in, particularly up top because we are a little bit light in goalscorers.’