Mackay says best has yet to come from hitman Hemmings

Dundee coach Dave Mackay has warned the rest of the Championship top scorer Kane Hemmings is only just getting started, writes George Cran.

The Dark Blues frontman struck his 10th goal of the campaign in the midweek victory over Ayr United as they attempt to run down Inverness in second place.

Uncertainty reigns over whether he’ll get the chance to add to that tally, however, after the SPFL cancelled all this weekend’s fixtures over the coronavirus pandemic.

But Mackay is backing Hemmings to revisit the goalscoring heights he managed in his earlier spells in Scottish football when the season restarts.

The Dens first-team coach said: “I remember him from his first spell at Dundee because I played against him.

“I remember I was just coming back from a hip injury and he might have scored two goals that day.

“His pace was hard to handle but, then, it didn’t matter who I was playing against if you are talking about pace.

“Seriously, he has always been a strong runner and he still has that, as we saw with his goal on Tuesday.

“He is not lightning quick but he is a powerful, strong runner who has the finish to go along with it.

“He also scored against us (Saints) at Mcdiarmid Park and he was a real handful. That was at the time when he really hit form for Dundee and was scoring freely.

“To be fair to him, for the last few months in training here he has been flying.

“He is looking sharp and hungry and I always thought it was just a matter of time before he started banging the goals in.

“He is also benefiting from the team creating a lot more chances that we were.”

They have also been keeping the goals out at the other end with five clean sheets on the bounce and Mackay insists a lot of the work done at the top end by Hemmings and his fellow frontmen is a major part of that.

He added: “You also need to defend from the front, whether that be Kane Hemmings, Paul Mcgowan, Andrew Nelson or whoever.

“The back three have been exceptional and that gives you a great platform to build on.

“We have not been free-scoring this season, although we have started to create more chances.

“When you are keeping the number of clean sheets we have been then you know you have players in your side who are capable of scoring a goal.”

Dundee’s Kane Hemmings has much more to give. Picture: