Deacon left stunned by Dundee start

The last thing Roarie Deacon expected was to come back into a Dundee side without a win or a point, and rock bottom of the Premiership table, writes Eric Nicolson.

Two out of those three have been put right and the comeback winger is determined to make sure the third doesn’t remain the case for much longer.

Deacon played his part in helping the Dark Blues secure a much-needed victory at Hamilton last weekend, setting up the second goal in injurytime after coming on as a substitute just a few minutes earlier.

It certainly beats watching from the stand as his team-mates suffered some undeserved results in his absence.

Deacon admitted he was shocked by the start to the season Dundee had made.

“I’m very surprised,” he said. “Everyone is surprised.”

“No way did we think we’d do well in pre-season but then have no points on the board after six games,” added the winger.

“However, after Hamilton everyone is positive.

“You can’t not be. The way we’ve been playing, we’ve been creating chances and playing well despite not getting points.

“Everyone is buzzing in training, raring to go and wanting to do well for Dundee.”

Deacon’s early season frustrations were a consequence of an injury picked up in the last game of the previous campaign.

He said: “I had ankle surgery the first week into pre-season.

“I twisted it and damaged ankle ligaments in the game against Partick and through the summer it didn’t heal itself.

“Initially the surgeon didn’t want to operate but it didn’t heal so we made the decision to go under the knife to sort it out.

“I was supposed to be back a little earlier than this but on the first session back I re-injured my thigh, which was a problem I had last season. So I needed a bit of intense rehabilitation on that to get back. Now though, I’m fit and ready to go.”

Meanwhile, Kenny Miller, who is available for selection against Kilmarnock tomorrow after serving a two-game ban, believes the Hamilton win can be the turning point of Dundee’s season.

He said: “We have a group at Dundee that is great at the moment. We just didn’t get that break, but there was a really positive environment at the club which the manager has created.

“We just needed that little break and hopefully that is what we got on Saturday.

“We got that first win and, although we did ride our luck a little bit at times, I felt we were the better team and deserved it.

“But if you have got that togetherness in your dressing room then there is no limit as to how far you can go.”