The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Leitch-smith: Time for Dee to hit goal trail
Frustrated striker admits Dark Blues need to unearth ruthless streak in bid to move up Premiership table
Frustrated frontman A-jay Leitch-smith knows Dundee have to find a ruthless streak but he is confident goals are just around the corner.
The Dark Blues head to Hamilton today knowing that they can’t afford to keep squandering opportunities the way they did against Hibs.
The Dens men should have found the net at least once on Wednesday night but Paul Mcgowan (twice) and young Matty Henvey both passed up golden opportunities, leaving John Mcginn’s scrappy strike for the visitors to clinch all three points.
That was a real source of frustration for the Englishman and the hope is that all will be well when they travel west to face Accies this afternoon.
Leitch-smith said: “It was a tight game in midweek, where they made chances and we made chances. Obviously, the difference on the night was that they put one away.
“The good thing, though, is that we are making opportunities in the first place.
“It’s a good sign. We are still playing some good stuff. Hopefully, we can turn those chances into goals.
“Maybe we just need a little bit of luck but goals win games, not chances, so we do need to be more clinical.
“Obviously, strikers need to be working on their finishing so we have been doing that. I think my goal to start (ratio) is not too bad but I would like to score more – that would be a real bonus.
“I still think that we go into the Hamilton game in confident mood.”
In the wake of the loss to the Hibees, Dundee keeper Elliot Parish insisted that they still feel a top-six finish is achievable.
Leitch-smith agreed, saying: “We have to be positive. We do have the belief that we can string a few results together and get into the top six.
“We play Hamilton and then there are a lot of important games coming up against teams in our area of the table (Ross County at home and Partick Thistle away). We have to go into those matches with self-belief and in the knowledge that we are capable of getting the points that would push us up the league.
Leitch-smith isn’t worried about having to battle his way to victory today, with the Englishman ready to deal with some physical defending from Hamilton.
He said: “They are a big, strong, hardworking team and play well as a unit.
“We must play the way we know we can play and hopefully we can take some chances.
“You have to be on it because they seem to be on it every week as a team.
“I think we can still go there and get the points.
“There are a few teams like that in the lower leagues (in England) and obviously a few who can play as well.
“There are a lot of teams who have big, powerful centre-halves who rough you about and that.
“I am used to getting pushed and shoved, though, so you just have to take it and carry on.”
Manager Neil Mccann, like Leitch-smith, is optimistic that the goals are not far away.
He said: “I thought we more than ran Hibs close and had loads of opportunities, really good ones as well. I was so disappointed we didn’t take any of those.
“It’s always been about the ruthless streak. How many chances have we created this season and not found the net?
“We continue to work on that and we just have to hope it’s going to happen. You’ve got to try and make it happen, of course.
“The law of averages suggests we are
making so many chances against a very good Hibs side that it’s got to come.”
Mccann will welcome Kerr Waddell and Sofien Moussa back from suspension. Roarie Deacon is pushing for a starting place after showing up well in training, as is Lewis Spence.
Frontman Marcus Haber will miss out again because of a back injury.
Georgios Sarris returns to the Accies squad after being given a second chance by boss Martin Canning. Canning had stated that the Greek centre-back would not play for the club again, after being booked at the final whistle in a 1-0 defeat at Partick Thistle last month, but the player has been reinstated following an apology.