McGowan eager to play part at Dens

“THAT HIGHLIGHTS the whole problem. As players we don’t pay much attention to it.

“We don’t really understand what’s going on — all we do is read what’s in the newspapers.

“We see it in the mornings but you can’t tell me players are affected by what they read during the week. I don’t buy that.”

McGowan previously played in Edinburgh derbies when he was a player at Hearts.

However, this will be his first taste of one in Dundee, and he admits he cannot wait to experience it.

He said: “I love derby matches because of the passion and the intensity of them. These games mean everything to the supporters. Once you realise that as a player, you enjoy them.”

United have won all three derbies so far this season with Dundee’s last win in the fixture coming all the way back in 2004.

And Mc G owa n is determined that United will continue to hold the upper hand.

He added: “I can’t speak for what’s happened before because this is my first Dundee derby.

“But at Hearts for a while we had a winning streak over Hibs.

“Every game is different, though, and you have to make sure you take advantage of the key moments in these matches. “Does it help you? Yes. “But Dundee were out of the league for a while, so I don’t know how many times the teams met.

“But it’s up to us to go up there and make sure that run keeps going.”

McGowan has even more incentive than most United players to look forward to the derby as he hasn’t played since March 21 following a suspension picked up after being sent off in the Scottish Cup quarter-final replay against Celtic.

McGowan was dismissed for a tackle on Liam Henderson with United unsuccessfully appealing against his two-game ban.

He added: “It’s good to be back again because with the international break it has seemed like a really long time.”

RYAN McGOWAN admits the Dundee United players owe their supporters a big result in tonight’s derby at Dens.

TheTangerines have failed to win in their last nine matches — albeit four of those games came against Celtic — and they slumped to defeat at home on Saturday to Ross County.

McGowan believes that miserable run contributed to the controversy over the revelations about boss Jackie McNamara’s contract last week.

TheAustralian international insists that if the players had been producing the results and performances they are capable of, then there would have been a lot less fuss over the issue.

McGowan said: “We owe the fans in the derby and I think we’ve owed them a result for a while now. Performances haven’t been good enough and have not met the standards we want for this football club.

“It’s up to us as players to go out on the pitch and do it. If we do that it would take the attention away from some of the other things that are going on. “A win against Dundee would be huge. “If results had been going well over the last three or four weeks it would have taken a lot of the spotlight away from the off-field issues.

“If we’d won the last five out of six, I don’t think people would have been saying much about it.

“But it has been highlighted because we, as players, have not been performing to the standards we’ve set.”