The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Pars will be in title race – McPake
DARK BLUES: Dee boss backs opening night opponents for promotion challenge
Dundee boss James McPake has widened the field of promotion candidates to include opening night opponents Dunfermline.
The Dark Blues will kick off their Championship campaign knowing they are widely expected to be battling it out with city rivals Dundee United for the title.
The bookmakers certainly think so, with the Tangerines rated favourites and the Dark Blues just behind them. McPake thinks it will be more complicated than that, though, and highlighted the threat the Pars are likely to pose at East End Park tomorrow and throughout the season.
He said: “I think there’s a lot more to it than just Dundee United and ourselves.
“Whatever the bookies want to do they can do but there will be a lot of teams up there come the end of the season.”
McPake continued: “There’s the likes of Dunfermline, who are strong.
“You see Dundee United, who’ve been in the league for a while now, while Hibs took a while to get out of it.
“It is not as easy as coming down and just going straight back up again, even if you are one of the bigger clubs.
“It’s a very hard league – a good league – where anybody can beat anybody on their day.”
Maybe so but it will be a quietly confident McPake who takes his players across the Tay to start the season.
He said: “We’re looking forward to it. We are ready and we’ve had a good campaign in the Betfred Cup, which was hugely important to us.
“For us, though, the league is the big one.
“We’re delighted to be in the last 16 of the Betfred but that’s been put to the side now and it’s all about the league campaign.
“It’s what everyone looks out for.
“Even going back to when I was a player, it’s what gave you that buzz and excitement.
“It was about that first Saturday – in our case it’s a Friday night – and we’re itching to get going. As a team, we’re well structured and we get the ball back very well. We are working together to prevent goals which has been good so far.
“You need to keep doing that because that’s four clean sheets in a row which we want to build on.
“It’s good at the minute but we do need to be a bit more clinical at the other end of the field, which will come.”
McPake watched Dunfermline in action as, just like the Dens men, they finished top of their cup group.
He added: “We’ve seen all their Betfred Cup games and they have made a good start.
“It’s two confident teams going into the first game of the season and there should be a good atmosphere on the night.
“We are all set and will not be going down there with any excuses.”
The Dark Blues expect to have Jamie Ness in their squad but Andrew Davies is still unavailable.
Meanwhile, Dundee’s cup clash against Aberdeen has been provisionally pencilled in for Saturday August 17 (3pm) but is subject to change if the Dons progress in the Europa League.