McPake calm as Dundee cut gap
DUNDEE boss James McPake watched his promotion hopefuls cut the gap on city rivals Dundee United — then brushed aside any title talk.
McPake’s Dark Blues overcame Alloa to breathe new life into their quest for a Premiership return thanks to first-half goals from Danny Johnson and Jordan McGhee, after Liam Dick had equalised for Peter Grant’s impressive visitors.
Dundee, who had goalkeeper Jack Hamilton to thank for his 51st-minute penalty save from Alan Trouten, moved to within four points of league leaders United after they crashed to a 2-0 defeat away to Ayr United.
But manager McPake dismissed the notion of edging closer to Robbie Neilson’s Championship pacesetters as he preferred to savour his second league win at Dens Park this season instead.
McPake said: ‘That’s of no interest to me, genuinely. We’re five games into the season. It’s all about Dundee and we’ve won the game.
‘Maybe people will say I’m wrong but everything about me is just focused on Dundee.
‘The task was to get the three points. So it’s a good day for us.
‘Alloa were good and made it hard for us. We need to win our home games as we want to make this place a fortress.’
Dundee forged ahead inside the second minute. Jordon Forster’s deep cross was headed off the bar by Declan McDaid and Johnson was on hand to drill home the rebound from close range.
It was a dream start for the Dens men but before long they were pegged back by the vibrant Wasps, who levelled in the 10th minute.
Iain Flannigan whipped over a cross, which fell to Dick, who fired a left-foot finish into the bottom corner past Hamilton.
However, Dundee regained the initiative six minutes before the break. Josh McPake went on a surging run into the Alloa box and his cut-back was met by defender McGhee, who did the rest from point-blank range.
The second half started with Forster seeing his stooping header from McDaid’s free-kick turned onto the bar by Jamie MacDonald.
Then Alloa were awarded a penalty when Shaun Byrne brought down Kevin Cawley.
Trouten stepped up only to have his weak effort saved by Hamilton, low to his left, as the hosts breathed a massive sigh of relief.
Dundee were then denied what looked like a stonewall penalty in 70 minutes when full-back Cammy Kerr was all set to shoot inside the box but had his heels clipped by Scott Taggart. Although referee Alan Newlands was having none of it — much to the hosts’ annoyance.
Alloa wasted a golden opportunity to equalise in the dying minutes as Robert Thomson latched onto a loose ball inside the six-yard box, but couldn’t hit the target.
Wasps boss Grant said: ‘It’s great that you come to a place like Dens Park and you end up disappointed.
‘I’m very proud of the boys. We had a good chance to equalise through Alan and if we had, we would have probably gone on to win the game.’