Mcpake sets out to find winter reinforcements

Dundee will be active in the transfer market in January and work has already begun to improve their squad says boss James Mcpake.

The Dark Blues head into the busy festive schedule in 11th place in the Premiership, just one point above bottom side Ross County after their win over Hibs on Wednesday.

And Dens boss Mcpake is under no illusions his squad needs some reinforcements in the winter window.

Some of those could come from across the Irish Sea with the Dark Blues gaffer and assistant Dave

Mackay heading over to watch the FAI Cup final between Bohemians and St Patrick’s Athletic on Sunday.

On potential additions, Mcpake said: “We are going to a national cup final in Ireland on Sunday, myself and Dave, to look at a few players.

“We are looking to strengthen. “Like we’ve done before, there are players we are looking at on pre-contracts as well. That has been ongoing for a period of time.”

After three weeks off, Dundee are now preparing for nine matches in just five weeks before the winter break in the new year.

It will be a punishing schedule, kicking off with Motherwell tomorrow before St Johnstone and Rangers follow in the space of seven days. But Mcpake insists the Dark Blues are looking forward to the busy period.

“So far in this second round of fixtures, we’ve had a win and a defeat,” the Dens boss said.

“We need to be better than we were in our first round of fixtures, we know that.

“But we need to build on the St Mirren performance and be better all over the pitch. We have been working on that but the proof will be in the pudding.”

He added: “We see the next few games as a chance to get points on the board.

“We are looking forward to it. As a player I had schedules like that in England and a lot of our players have as well. I loved the Saturday-tuesday-saturday schedule in England. Players like Charlie Adam, Liam Fontaine, Adam Legzdins, Ryan Sweeney have all played a lot in England and they are used to it.

“It’s great. You play, you recover and then you play again. Games thick and fast, good atmospheres and big games coming up.

“If it’s a bad performance, you know right away you can put it right, if it’s a good performance you carry the momentum into the next game.

“The players want to play, it’s as simple as that. You could see the edge in them this week with the game coming up.

“Our run starts this Saturday and we’re looking to have a positive December.”

Mcpake insists the glut of games is a chance to make an impact on the Premiership table.

He added: “There are some great games in there – the derby, going to Ibrox but there’s also really important ones like Motherwell coming here, going to Livingston, St Johnstone here next week.

“There are teams around about us and it is a chance to get on their coat-tails or overtake them.

“First and foremost we just look at Motherwell. The two games against them this season have been very tight and I expect the same again.”