The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
McGhee’ s Dee glee at Griffiths return
Scotland fan Jordan McGhee was watching with his pals in the pub as Leigh Griffiths scored two unforgettable free-kicks against England at Hampden.
Now, the Dundee midfielder finds himself sharing the same dressingroom as the striker after he was signed from Celtic last week on a season-long loan by Dark Blues boss James McPake.
Griffiths, who had a previous successful spell at Dens, is in the squad for today’s home Premiership match with another of his former teams, Livingston.
And McGhee is hoping the 31-year-old can reproduce the sort of goalscoring exploits that lifted the nation against the Auld Enemy in 2017 for Dundee.
McGhee said: “It is a massive coup to get Griff in the door. It is good for us on the pitch, the club and the fans.
“What he does bring is goals. Goals win you matches if you can keep the door shut at the other end.
“He is a big-game player who has played in many Old Firm and Scotland matches.
“I watched his goals against England in the pub with my friends and it was great. It was so unexpected to pull off one, but the second one was brilliant.
“Hopefully, he can replicate that and score some big goals for us.”
Despite only having a year left on his contract with Celtic, Griffiths has insisted he has not given up hope of resurrecting his career with the Glasgow giants.
McGhee believes that determination to succeed can only be good news for Dundee.
The 25-year-old former Hearts and Falkirk player said: “Griff was a successful player here last time but now he will want to show the fans he has come back a better player. Obviously, he will want to show he still has the goalscoring instinct as well.”
McGhee is mostly being used as a box-to-box
midfielder with Dundee at the moment but he has played against Griffiths previously as a defender for Hearts and he knows exactly the danger the striker possesses.
McGhee added: “You know what he is like and what you get from him. I have played against him enough times.
“He shoots on sight and always hits the target. He has been playing at a good level and brings a lot to the team. He is always on the shoulder and trying to get a shot on goal.
“When he gets on the left foot he is always trying to shift it to hit the target.
“That will help us in the long run but we also have Jason Cummings who can do that. We have a lot of
options up front and it only benefits the team and club.”
With Charlie Adam out with a groin injury, vicecaptain McGhee will almost certainly wear the skipper’s armband against Livi but he insists that will not alter the way he plays.
He said: “Charlie will be a miss with what he brings on the pitch.
“We have able replacements to come in and play and we also have extra firepower. I hope the team can rally and pick up as many points as we can.
“I always act like a leader on the pitch – it doesn’t matter if I have an armband or not. It doesn’t change who you are or what you do on the park.
“It is just about making sure you do everything the
same and everybody is at it.” Dundee are still looking for their first Premiership win of the season and McGhee admits there is no escaping the importance of the game against Livi, who are without a point to their name and bottom of the table.
He added: “It is massive and especially at home in front of the fans.
“We have been really good in the draw against Hibs and the cup win over Motherwell.
“We got minutes in a bounce game during the international break and we have worked hard to prepare for it.”
As well as Adam, Christie Elliott and Danny Mullen will miss the game through injury.