Season has truly started now, pledges Dee forward

DUNDEE: Everyone at Dens Park ‘buzzing’ after getting much-needed first victory

Dundee’s Adil Nabi insists the season starts now for the Dark Blues after they registered their first league win of the season on Saturday.

Neil Mccann’s side travelled through to Hamilton having lost their previous seven games in a row, with the manager under severe pressure.

The omens were not good, with Accies having recorded a fine victory over St Mirren the week previously.

However, Dundee took the lead – the first time they had done so in the Premiership this season – through Andy Boyle and then secured all three points deep into stoppage time when Kharl Madianga scored his side’s second, sparking wild scenes of celebration both on the pitch and among the travelling supporters.

Now, Nabi is determined the Hamilton result will prove to be a big turning point in Dundee’s season.

The 24-year-old frontman said: “The win changes the mindset for us.

“As a team when we were losing, we didn’t really let that get to us.

“I know we’ve been under pressure having not won but as a team, we’ve been positive.

“We always knew we wanted to get that goal first and we showed what we can do when we get in front.

“There’s no better feeling than coming away with the three points and long may it continue.

“Our season starts now and whatever happened before is past and we need to kick on.”

Nabi, who started his career as a youth at West Bromwich Albion and has also played for Peterborough United and Delhi Dynamos in India, spurned a great opportunity to score against Hamilton but he has promised it is only a matter of time before he begins hitting the back of the net.

He said: “I said to the gaffer after my third, fourth start I’d be firing.

“I’m slowly showing that, getting chances and looking lively.

“I know the fans are happy with me – I read on the internet all the time that they are buzzing.

“Hopefully now I can start getting myself on the scoresheet and carry on.

“I should have put that one away definitely but that’s going to come, I know that for sure.

“My goals will come.” Hamilton could have felt aggrieved that they did not take something from Saturday’s game, with the woodwork twice coming to Dundee’s rescue before Madianga scored the second, but Nabi insists the Dark Blues were overdue some much-needed good fortune.

He added: “We rode our luck and got some luck back on Saturday – they hit the bar twice but we showed we can play our football and fight as well. We showed that in abundance on Saturday.

“Everyone is over the moon, the gaffer, the boys, absolutely buzzing and we can’t wait for the next game.

“If you’re going to win, sometimes you have to ride the storm and we rode it quite well.

“There was no doubting they would come at us and put us under the cosh. We were troubled a few times but that was it really.

“We played as a team and that’s what we are about, to be honest.

“We can play football but we know how to change it up sometimes. We can play long or play short and we showed that on Saturday.”

Meanwhile, Dundee’s Glen Kamara and Benjamin Kallman have been called up to the full Finland squad and the Finnish Under-21 squad respectively.

● Dundee have signed former Rangers midfielder Grant Nelson on a short-term deal.

The 19-year-old was a free agent having left the Ibrox club in the summer following a serious ankle injury.

Nelson had a spell on trial with Inverness but has now been snapped up by the Dark Blues for their reserve squad.

He featured yesterday for the reserves against Dunfermline at New Central Park.

Picture: SNS. Adil Nabi says the win at Hamilton changes the team’s mindset and has pledged that what has happened so far in the season is consigned to the past.