The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Mccann charged over Dens clash
SFA: Dundee manager and St Johnstone keeper face Hampden hearings
Dundee manager Neil Mccann and St Johnstone goalkeeper Zander Clark have been charged with misconduct by the SFA after their touchline clash last weekend.
Both men have been issued with notices of complaint for “excessive misconduct” after compliance officer Tony Mcglennan spent several days reviewing the incident in the wake of Saints’ 4-0 Tayside derby win. Their cases will be heard at Hampden on March 29.
Jim Jefferies, who was manager of Hearts when Mccann played for the club and later had him as his assistant at Dunfermline, believes he will learn from the incident.
“I said when he got the job, he’s definitely a feisty character and he’s a winner,” said Jefferies. “That result and performance will have hurt him.
“It’s all just a learning process and once you’ve been in management a few years you handle things differently.
“I saw it when I was more experienced as a manager and I came up against a few inexperienced managers.”
“I’ve had words with a few and the game’s hard enough without getting involved in anything like that.
“He’ll not change in terms of being a winner, that’s for sure, but he’ll learn from it and take it on the chin, and you’ve got to cut him a bit of slack.”
Meanwhile, Dundee’s season has reached the “make-or-break stage”, Mark O’hara has admitted.
The Dark Blues midfielder was part of a woeful team performance against Saints.
With three points separating them and Partick Thistle, who occupy the play-off position, the Dens Park side are now in a relegation battle.
And O’hara knows it.
“It’s make or break now for us,” said the former Kilmarnock man.
“Obviously, it’s not too late but the St Johnstone game is the biggest wake-up call you can get.
“We can’t play like that again, simple as that.
“The next game at Aberdeen, a reaction needs to happen and we need points desperately. We can’t dwell on last week, we’ve got to get the spirits lifted and put in the hard work. “We need to find a change of form. “This weekend, people won’t give us much of a chance at Aberdeen but we see it as a chance to get a good three points.
“We’ve been up there this season, played well but lost 2-1 and should have taken something from the game.
“I think we’ll take encouragement from that and we need to erase Saturday as quickly as possible. We all need to move forward.”
O’hara revealed he felt “numb” in the home dressing room after the Saints match, and this week has been a mixture of reflecting on where it all went wrong but also putting it behind them.
“I felt numb after the game,” he said. “It was really disappointing.
“We had a good couple of weeks’ training and felt really confident going into the game but it was pretty surreal, the outcome and result.
“How we played, I think that was the worst performance since I’ve been here, by a mile.
“It was a dark day but there’s no point in dwelling on it. We need to pull together and turn it around.
“St Johnstone were on a bad run of form and it was a game at home. It was a good chance for us to jump above them.
“We went into our shells and didn’t stick as a team.
“That was shocking. There were no positives to take. We just need to get it out of our minds as soon as we can and, hopefully, turn it around next game.”
Glen Kamara and Paul Mcgowan will be certain starters at Pittodrie on their return from suspension.
“They are two influential players who were obviously missed,” said O’hara.
“They’ll be back soon and, hopefully, can help us turn it around.
“We were missing key players, which doesn’t help, but we’ve got enough quality in the changing room and it was so disappointing the way it went.
“Going into the game we were more than confident we were a good team and were ready to go.”
Dundee have lost their last five games at Dens, so will playing away from home take a bit of pressure off them on Saturday?
“It shouldn’t, but I think it might,” said O’hara.
“Playing away, as I said, people won’t give us much chance at Aberdeen.
“We just need to get back to playing how we were five, six games ago.
“Hopefully, a change of scenery brings a change of fortune.”