Tannadice humbling can make or break Dee
Paul McGowan reckons being humbled by Dundee United will either make or break Dundee.
And the raging Dee star insists the onus is on his team-mates to prove they’re worthy of pulling on a dark blue jersey.
McGowan is the only man still in the Dens Park squad from the team that crashed 6-2 to their city rivals on New Year’s Day 2015.
He never thought he’d have to endure such derby heartache again.
But now he has, he reckons the experience needs to be put to use by the misfiring Dark Blues.
“I’ve been here before. I felt it. I think the manager played in the last 6-2 game as well and it’s not nice,” said McGowan.
“We’ll see what we’re made of now. I’m not just saying that.
“We’re quite a young squad, but this will show us what we’re made of.
“We’ve had a few plaudits here and there, and rightly so, because we’ve started the season not too bad.
“But this will show us what we’re made of.
“Are we going to let this affect us? You don’t know with some players.
“I hope it doesn’t, and we’ll be back in on Monday to try and work on it again.”
On the Dee’s performance, McGowan was forthright.
“Where do you start? 6-2 – it’s embarrassing,” he said.
“First half, I didn’t think there was much in it, but the goals we lost…
“We’ve been really good at keeping clean sheets. I’ve been really impressed. Winning our fair share of balls, winning second balls, but we’re walking in 4-1 at half-time – it’s incredible.
“We’ve got to be having a good look at ourselves because that can’t be happening.
“You forgive one if your man gets away from you but losing three goals from set pieces… we work tirelessly on it.
“If they wanted it more in a derby game then we need to look at ourselves because, if that’s the case, we shouldn’t be playing for this club.”
McGowan has endured heavy defeats before in Dark Blue.
But that doesn’t mean he is comfortable with them.
He particularly disliked witnessing United’s post-derby party on Friday night.
Yet he revealed Dundee’s players didn’t hide away from them.
“Of course it hurts. It’s hard,” said McGowan.
“You see their celebrations after the game in the changing room as if they’ve already won the league, but fair play to them.
“They beat us 6-2 fair and square and if they want to celebrate like that we have to take it on board.
“We kept the door open and listened to it. We let it sink in – that doesn’t happen again.
“It’s going to be a tough season but we need to stand up and be counted because in those games you need to put your foot on the ball.
“Fair play to Dundee United You can’t take anything away from them, but we’ll go back to the drawing board.
“I’m pretty sure we’ll watch the game on Monday. The manager is pretty angry and rightly so because that can’t happen if you want to win this league.”