Chance to see what Dark Blues made of, insists McGowan

Midfielder vows to silence rivals after forcing himself to listen to their celebrations

Paul McGowan made himself listen to Dundee United derby celebrations before vowing to keep the rivals quiet next time.

The Dundee midfielder took the masochistic step of keeping the dressing room door open after his team’s 6-2 defeat at Tannadice on Friday night.

The hope is that having to hear their opponents party will spur on his colleagues to shut United up in future.

McGowan suggested the singing and dancing was a bit over the top at this early stage in the season but didn’t argue that the Dark Blues deserved to be the losing side.

He said: “We listened to them celebrating in the changing room after the game as if they had already won the league, but fair play to them. They beat us fair and square and, if they want to celebrate like that, we have to take it on board.

“We kept the door open and listened to it. We let it all sink in (but) that doesn’t happen again.

“It is going to be a tough season but we need to stand up and be counted because in those games you need to put your foot on the ball.

“You can’t take anything away from United but we will go back to the drawing board and I’m pretty sure we will watch the game back on Monday morning.

“The manager is pretty angry – and rightly so – because that can’t happen if you want to win this league.

“If they (United) wanted it more in the derby than us then we need to look at ourselves.

“Where to start with the result? Well, 6-2 is embarrassing.”

McGowan challenged the Dundee players to recover from their heavy derby defeat.

He said: “Now we will see what we are made of, and I’m not just saying that.

“Our squad have had a few plaudits and rightly so because we had started the season pretty well, but this will show just how well we can react.

“Are we going to let this affect us? You just don’t know with some players.

“I hope it doesn’t.”

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Are we going to let this affect us? You just don’t know with some players. PAUL McGOWAN

Picture: SNS. Paul McGowan is challenging his team-mates to recover from their derby defeat.