BACK IN THE HUNT
Hero McGhee says Dundee still have their eyes on title
Jordan McGhee admits the dundee players knew their Championship title dreams would be all but over if they lost against Hearts on Saturday night.
Prior to kick-off, the dark Blues were eight points adrift of the table-topping Tynecastle men, who also have a game in hand.
Hearts had thrashed dundee 6-2 on the opening day of the league season in october — but this time, with the talismanic Charlie adam pulling the strings, James McPake’s men turned the tables to pull off a stunning victory.
McGhee opened the scoring with a bullet header, and the former Hearts player confirmed everyone at dundee knew exactly what was at stake in the crunch clash.
‘Yes, in terms of aspirations to win the league, of course,’ said the 24-year-old.
‘We couldn’t afford to lose or drop any more ground on Hearts.
‘We always knew it was a big game, but we believe in ourselves and we knew if we could put in that sort of performance we would give anyone a game.
‘It has happened at a great time against a good team. We need to keep doing it in every game and see where it takes us.
‘It was a great performance and it has been a long time coming as well, so we are delighted.
‘We knew Hearts would be tough opponents, but we have done really well in the last few games and we knew if we played the way we have been playing we could get a decent result — I think we did that.’
McGhee’s first-half opener came courtesy of an inch-perfect cross from the inspirational adam.
The f ormer Liverpool and Scotland midfielder also provided the assist for his side’s second with s t r i ker danny Mullen sending a powerful header past Hearts keeper Craig Gordon.
The Gorgie men pulled one back after the break through sub andy Irving’s free-kick. However, the home side wrapped up all three points thanks to a late penalty f r om on- l oan Celtic striker Jonathan afolabi, with dundee now six games unbeaten.
McGhee was thrilled to open the scoring, but felt the tone was set in the first minute when team-mate Shaun Byrne flew into a tackle on Hearts skipper Steven naismith.
The dundee midfielder was booked for the challenge, with visiting boss robbie neilson raging afterwards that referee don robertson did not show a red card.
However, McGhee insisted the tackle proved just how much dundee were up for the game.
He said: ‘It happens a lot in this league — teams try to do it to us as well. It is part and parcel of the game and you see it all over the world, players trying to set the tone in the first five minutes.
‘There is no better way to do that. If the fans were in here, it would have got every single one of t hem on t heir f eet. I t was definitely a marker set.’
Meanwhile, Hearts goalscorer Irving denied any suggestion that complacency due to his team’s commanding lead at top of the Championship had been a factor in the defeat.
and the 20-year- old insisted neilson’s side would bounce back strongly from this setback just like they did after their only other Championship loss of the season so far, against dunfermline in november.
‘no complacency has crept in — not at all,’ said Irving. ‘The squad’s very professional and we have a lot of players who have played at a high level who are experienced.
‘I think it’s just been an off-night. This is a tough league. You come to places like dundee and they’re not going to make it easy for us.
‘We have to do the dirty side as well, especially as the pitches j ust now aren’t fantastic. We reacted well from our defeat at dunfermline, so now we need to react well from this and go on another winning run.’
DUNDEE (4-3-2-1): Hamilton; Elliott, Fontaine, Ashcroft, Marshall; McGhee, Byrne, Adam (Robertson 77); McGowan, Sow (Kerr 82); Mullen (Afolabi 69). Subs not used: Ferrie, Forster, McDaid, Anderson. HEARTS (4-4-2): Gordon; Brandon, Halkett, Berra, Kingsley; Lee, Haring (Irving 45), Walker, Halliday; Naismith, Wighton (Henderson 54).
Subs not used: Stewart, Roberts, Frear, Moore, Popescu. Man of the match: Charlie Adam. Referee: Don Robertson.