The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
McPake staying positive despite late Dee collapse
Dundee boss Jam e s McPake says there are “loads of positives” to take out of their 4-1 Betfred Cup defeat to Hibs at Easter Road yesterday.
However, he’s certainly not happy with the manner of the late collapse that saw the Hibees score three times in the final 14 minutes after Christie Elliott had levelled things in the second half.
The Dark Blues were good value for the 1-1 scoreline in the second period, after Stevie Mallan had opened the scoring from range early on.
McPake says he expected his side to kick on after Elliott’s goal on 71 minutes only to see them collapse to a 4-1 defeat.
And he’ll expect his players to learn the lessons from Easter Road in two weeks’ time after they were drawn away to yesterday’s hosts in the second round shortly after full-time.
St Johnstone, who secured their place in the knockout stages on with a 3-1 win over Peterhead, have been drawn away to Motherwell.
Dick Campbell’s Arbroath, who qualified for the latter stages by being one of the best placed runners-up, will play host to in-form Dunfermline.
“They’re a good side but we were very much in the game in the first half,” said McPake.
“We started brightly in the second half and got the goal and got back in the game.
“To concede three goals in six minutes is the disappointing thing, they were poor goals we lost.
“There were loads of positives that we can take and that can sometimes happen, you get yourself back in a game and they get the next goal.
“What you can’t do is lose a game in a six minute period.
“Even before the goals we had the better chances in the second half with Gowser (Paul McGowan) and Danny Mullen and we looked like a team that was going to score.”
Of the late collapse, the Dens gaffer said: “I never saw that coming, at the time you’re thinking maybe we could be the team that could get the winner but you can’ t switch off against good players.
“They’re not even good goals, that’s not being disrespectful to Hibs but they are goals I would expect our players to stop going in.
“That period effectively killed the game.
“We came up against a good Premiership side and held our own for large periods but we need to be better in our box in particular.”
Dundee were only able to name five subs due to a lengthy injury list but
McPake refuses to blame the injuries and suspensions that have beset the squad.
Mi s s i n g were Lee Ashcroft, Alex Jakubiak, Osman Sow, Jonathan Afolabi, Callum Moore and Jordon Forster while Ma x Anderson was suspended.
The Dens gaffer opted not to use any of the five subs named with two of them aged 16 and one 19 in Jack Wilkie, Cammy Blacklock and Luke Strachan respectively.
Hibs, meanwhile, saw two of their replacements get on the scoresheet late on as Jamie Gullan and Melker Hallberg added gloss to the scoreline.
“The squad is depleted and we had a couple of school kids on the bench but we don’t use that as an excuse,” said McPake.
“The positive thing was getting through, that was done before the game but we wanted a good performance.
“Apart from six minutes we got that.”
Hibs head coach Jack Ross praised his fringe players for impressing in the Easter Road win.
He said: “When you have a little bit of a dip in performances and results such as we have recently it opens up opportunities potentially.
“And all those players that had opportunities, whether starting or coming off the bench, did their utmost to make the most of them.
“I think they really tried, and t h a t ’s encouraging for me,” he said.