Dundee confidence gets real boost

Game plan same again, claims O’Hara after watching rerun of narrow defeat at Celtic Park

Sitting down to watch Dundee’s narrow defeat to Celtic earlier in the season has reinforced Mark O’Hara’s belief that they can return from Parkhead with points rather than just praise tonight.

“The manager has had us watching the game that we lost 1-0,” said the former Kilmarnock man.

“It reminded us that we more than matched them for long spells of the game. It was a real confidence boost to watch it again.

“I was surprised to see just how much of the ball we had that day – especially in the early stages of the match.

“Usually when teams go to Parkhead they retreat straight away and get 10 men behind the ball. We didn’t do that and it worked for us.

“You do get a chance to play and when that happens we’ll get the ball down and give it a real go. I think the game plan will be the same this time.”

The man who scored in a victory over Rangers a few months ago would complete a rare Scottish double if he could do the same this evening.

“Beating Rangers was a great result,” recalled O’Hara.

“We weren’t on a good run of form then either. It would be massive if we could beat the other half of the Old Firm tomorrow.”

It was Jack Hendry’s individual performance against Celtic in a Dundee shirt that sparked Brendan Rodgers’ interest in the centre-back, which concluded with his January departure to Celtic Park.

O’Hara believes that his former teammate will thrive in his new environment.

“I thought there was no reason why he shouldn’t go straight into the Celtic team,” he said.

“Jack was great when he was here. He was a stand-out for us in this league. With Celtic he’ll see more of the ball and that’s his game – stepping out of defence. He’s suited to Celtic and it didn’t surprise me to see him slot straight in.

“From going to Wigan to here and then Celtic and Scotland, it’s been a big few months for him. He did really well for Scotland (against Hungary). He’s more than good enough to play at that level.”

The two performances since the St Johnstone humiliation have given cause for optimism going into their Glasgow pre-split double-header.

O’Hara said: “We didn’t doubt ourselves in the dressing room but when results are consistently going against you, it’s hard. We’ve showed good character to bounce back and we were actually really disappointed that we didn’t get three points rather than one against Hearts.

“The important thing is we’re going in the right direction again. We got back to playing how we were when we were on a good run.

“The next two games are massive but we’re going into them without people expecting us to get results – apart from ourselves. We think it’s a chance to steal something.”

Meanwhile, O’Hara, who is out of contract in the summer, gave an update on talks.

“To be honest with you, it’s pretty uncertain just now which isn’t ideal,” he said. “Hopefully it will get sorted in the next week or so.

“Ideally it will get done before the summer. It’s genuinely not in my thoughts just now. My priority is getting us safe and doing as well as I can.”

Skipper Darren O’Dea hopes to shrug off a knock in time to face his former side.

The Dark Blues defender came off early in the second half against Hearts but was able to return to training.

Striker Faissal El Bakhtaoui missed the match with a knock but he too has returned to training.

Marcus Haber and Matthew Henvey (both knee) remain long-term absentees.

Usually when teams go to Parkhead they retreat straight away and get 10 men behind the ball. We didn’t do that and it worked for us. MARK O’HARA