Newcomer Marshall impressing

Dundee boss James McPake has praised Jordan Marshall for his consistently high levels of performances since joining the club in the summer.

The 22-year-old former Queen of the South left-back has quickly become a fans’ favourite at Dens with his whole-hearted displays for the Dark Blues.

Before joining Dundee, Marshall had a whole host of admirers with the likes of Premiership outfit Ross County keen to snap him up from the Doonhamers.

So McPake was delighted to win the race for the signature of a defender who in some ways reminds him of his first-team coach Dave Mackay when he was a player, setting high benchmarks every week.

The manager said: “Jordan has been brilliant and he was really good again on Saturday.

“He just comes in and does his work. He is great to work with.

“You can see why Ross County met his release clause last winter from Queen of the South and I can see why he had so many admirers.

“Obviously I had watched him but everyone I spoke to talked very highly about him.

“You can see why because he is your Dave Mackay, so to speak, in terms of what you are getting – seven out of 10 all the time, every week at least.

“He has been really good. “Jordan bombs up and down, he tackles.

“He is good going forward but defensively he is sound as well.

“He wears his heart on his sleeve so I have been really pleased with him from day one.”

Dundee returned to winning ways on Saturday against Alloa at Dens with McPake determined that result will be the start of a run of victories.

However, he is certainly taking nothing for granted tomorrow against Morton.

He said: “Yes, we need to win games.

“That win on Saturday was important as it had been a long couple of weeks in the league and that game down there (derby defeat to United).

“It was really important that however we got that result, we got it.

“We picked up the three points but performance-wise I thought we were as good as we have been in a while.

“It is something to build on and take into this week.

“Morton is a really tough place to go to.

“They have had a decent start to their season so we are under no illusions how difficult a game it will be.

“But you need to put wee runs together. Any team that has done well in this league has done that.”

Meanwhile, McPake is still sweating over the fitness of Jamie Ness.

The former Rangers midfielder suffered an ankle injury against Cove Rangers in the Betfred Cup, a problem that was exacerbated in the Challenge Cup game with Elgin.

McPake said: “Jamie is still touch and go.

“It goes back to that tackle up in Cove and then the tackle the other week.

“It is a bit of bone bruising and swelling in his ankle that we are doing our best to get rid of.

“But everybody else is fine.”