Winter blues didn’t help ‘rusty’ Dark Blues but Mccann doesn’t regret staying at home
Neil Mccann admitted Dundee were caught cold after the winter break – but he does not regret opting against taking his men on a sunshine break.
The Dens boss blamed rustiness as his side returned to action with a 2-2 Scottish Cup draw against Inverness. A number of top-flight clubs jetted out to foreign climes to escape Scotland’s frozen landscape during their two-week January lay-off.
Mccann’s Dark Blues, however, remained on Tayside and the Dees boss admits that decision was behind the display which means they will now have to do it all over again with Caley Thistle on 31 January.
But he insists given the choice again he would still prefer to keep the cash it would have cost to fly out for a warmweather training camp and use it to improve his squad.
“You could see how rusty we were,” said Mccann after George Oakley’s late equaliser handed John Robertson’s Championship side a fourthround replay. “It’s very hard to replicate a competitive edge when you’re playing a bounce game amongst yourself.
“We didn’t get the benefit of going away and taking a couple of competitive friendlies like some of the other sides did. However, if I’d been offered the possibility of going away I’d have probably said no and kept the money to put into the squad. We’re still looking to add a few bodies and we need a bit of help in terms of adding quality to the team.”
Dundee were slow out of the blocks and paid the price as Aaron Doran rifled Caley Thistle ahead. But the setback sparked Mccann’s side into life and they responded after the break. First Sofien Moussa deflected home an A-jay Leitch-smith strike while Mark O’hara then fired past Mark Ridgers.
But Oakley’s close-range finish keeps the 2015 winners in the competition and Doran believes Inverness can dream of going on another run.
“We still have a few players in our dressing room from the team who won the Scottish Cup and on our day we can match anyone,” said the Irishman. “If we beat Dundee in the replay it won’t be a shock.”