McCann can’t hide his delight at performance

Neil McCann has hailed his Dundee debutants after they hit the ground running with an impressive opening day victory over Stirling Albion.

Keeper Jack Hamilton, left-back Nathan Ralph, playmaker Elton Ngwatala and striker Jean Mendy all started the Betfred Cup tie at Forthbank Stadium and midfielder Kharl Madianga sprang off the bench in the second-half of the 4-0 win.

Mendy marked his competitive bow with a goal, while Hamilton produced a key double save early in the secondhalf with the score still 1-0 to the Dark Blues.

Ralph, Ngwatala and Madianga all turned in impressive displays, albeit against League Two opposition, and McCann saw enough from his new charges to make it a satisfying first outing of the campaign.

The Dens Park boss said: “I’m absolutely delighted. I said to the players before the game this was the season starting for real, there’s no warm-ups.

“First of all, you want to win the game and afterwards you’re wanting to put on a wee bit of a show and score some goals. And I’m pleased we did that.

“Stirling made it difficult at times and, indeed, it took a brilliant double stop from big Jack Hamilton, which is exactly why we brought him to the club.

“When he wasn’t used that much he made a super stop at 1-0 and then we got a bit of a jolt and away we went.

“I’m really pleased – a clean sheet, four goals, front three scoring, so I’m delighted.”

A large Dundee support travelled to Stirling for its first proper look at McCann’s summer recruits and the Dark Blues manager believes they should be excited for the campaign ahead.

He added: “The boys that came in and made their competitive debuts looked good, so all in all I’m pleased.

“Jean is direct and the most important thing for me is he has an end product. His finish is actually brilliant, he reversed it into the corner.

“You can see he’s got that eye for a goal, but he’s really intelligent. He’s not a young boy we’ve brought to the club or someone at the twilight of his career, he’s at a real good age where he’s got loads of energy. He was good.

“Elton showed real good glimpses of his power and pace. He’s going to be great and he’s physically able to deal with the game here.

“Kharl came on and showed glimpses as well. In the midfield I think we’ve got some really exciting talent there.”

Picture: SNS. Dundee’s Craig Wighton celebrates his goal with team-mate Jean Mendy.