DON’T STOP DEE-LIEVING, URGES LUKE
DUNDEE’S Luke McCowan insists Gary Bowyer’s charges must keep believing they can reel in Championship frontrunners Queen’s Park.
And he knows the Dee must pick up a win against Ayr United tomorrow to ramp up the pressure on the league leaders.
Dundee slipped seven points behind the Spiders following their frustrating 0-0 draw with play-off contenders Partick Thistle.
In a dull encounter at Firhill, Dundee failed to trouble Jags goalkeeper David Mitchell as they lost vital ground in the face for the title.
Dundee are the lowest scorers among the Championship’s top four and McCowan knows they need to find a cutting edge quickly if they are to have any chance at all of catching Queen’s.
McCowan said: “It’s obviously frustrating with Queen’s Park coming away with a result but we just need to keep focusing on ourselves and keep going until it’s mathematically impossible.
“So we just need to keep believing and look forward to the next game.
“There’s no point thinking they have run away with it. We know they have got tough games coming, as do we, and we just need to gain points and hopefully it will work in our favour at the end.
“The message in the dressing room, coming from the manager and also from players, is to focus on ourselves.
“It’s about putting as much pressure on people as you can, whether that’s the teams above you or below you.
“If we were to go on a run it’s probably the best
time in the league to do it. The most frustrating thing is we know how good we can be in the final third but here we let ourselves down, myself included.
“When those moments come we need to have a bit of composure to find the back of the net or work their goalie but we didn’t do that well enough.”
Partick are now unbeaten in six games under new manager Kris Doolan and have only conceded one goal since he replaced Ian McCall in the managerial hotseat.
And Thistle’s skipper Ross Docherty believes that’s an ideal foundation for their late promotion push as they remain in play-off contention.
Docherty said: “There wasn’t a lot of chances but I thought towards the end we could have nicked it if we’d been a bit just a bit more clinical.
“Since the new manager has come in, he’s emphasised not giving away goals and we’ve done that well - but we need to be more clinical in the final third. But earlier in the season we might have lost this game.
“The aim has always been promotion, whether that’s by winning the league - which is looking unlikely now, but we’ll give it our best shot.
“If we can turn draws into wins then you never know what can happen.”