Mccann predicting another tense battle but expects Dundee to prevail

Dundee manager Neil Mccann last night insisted he is not arrogant – but still expects to see off city rivals Dundee United.

Mccann is preparing his side for their last-16 Betfred Cup clash with Ray Mckinnnon’s Championship hopefuls at Dens Park tomorrow night, having lost to the Tangerines on a penalty shoot-out in the previous group stages.

Now the Premiership hosts have the chance to exact a measure of revenge in front of the live cameras with their manager maintaining his confidence hasn’t been shaken in the slightest on the back of Saturday’s opening-day 2-1 league defeat by Ross County and their failure to overcome United the week before.

Mccann, pictured, said: “I’m just as confident as I was going into the first game. But they have to go and earn the right to get into the quarter-final.

“They’ll fight tooth and nail for it. They will set themselves up to be hard to beat. There’s nothing wrong with us still expecting to come out on top being the Premiership side.

“And that’s what I want from them in our dressing room.

“It’s not arrogance. I just want the players to believe in themselves. We finished strongly in the last game and I thought we bossed it at times.”

Dundee’s new-look side received their first taste of the city derby more than a week ago and Mccann believes that initial experience should stand them in good stead this time around.

He said: “They’ve had a taste of it now so there’s no surprises. It’s a wonderful occasion. I think that should benefit our players from having had a bite-sized taste of it already.

“But United will be stronger because Scott Mcdonald is another week on in terms of fitness and James Keatings is back. “We know what they’re all about but we’ll just focus on ourselves. It’s all about our gameplan and trying to execute it.”

Mccann was critical of his team’s overall performance as they went down to County at the weekend, but insisted he knows the reasons for their downfall. He said: “We had six new boys in the starting lineup. We’re still finding our feet although I still expect better from them. I think they’ve got to believe in themselves a wee bit more. We’re still hurting from Saturday’s defeat and we’re still disappointed, and rightly so.

“Buthavingnowwatchedthe game back a couple of times we know exactly where we went wrong. I’ve said to the guys that they must learn to adapt to situations within a match to take control of the middle of the pitch.”

Meanwhile, Tunisian striker Sofien Moussa should be fit despite taking a knock to his knee at the weekend.