Dens gaffer backs Haber to keep up scoring run

DUNDEE interim boss Neil McCann is backing Marcus Haber to continue his scoring run — if his supply is kept up.

That starts this Saturday at home to Ross County where victory over the Staggies can seal Dundee’s place in next season’s Premiership, providing there is a winner in the Hamilton-Motherwell fixture.

Despite letting a couple of chances slip through his grasp at Kilmarnock, Neil was convinced Marcus Haber (right) would come good.

And he certainly did by heading in the winner, the only goal of the game at Rugby Park and, in the process, sealing a second win on the bounce for the Dens caretaker.

That made it three goals i n McCann’s two matches in charge for the Canadian international after a vital brace at Motherwell the week prior.

In the first half at Kilmarnock, however, it didn’t look like being Haber’s day after missing a decent chance early on after Mark O’Hara’s set-up, and then a sitter with a free header later in the half.

Neil, though, was adamant his frontman would get on the scoresheet and told him as much at the half-time break.

The interim boss said: “I told Marcus at half-time he’d been brilliant.

“We create things for him and want him to be a threat in the box.

“I said to him at half-time: ‘You are absolutely 100% going to score’.

“I just knew it, I knew he would score.

“He doesn’t show much emotion but he’s come up with a goal that’s managed to secure us three points.

“It was an absolute team effort to get us there, though.”

And the team ethic was something Haber was quick to highlight, too, looking back on the game.

The shut-out was the Dark Blues’ first since Hogmanay and the club’s top scorer thinks the confidence gained from keeping Killie out can push them on to a strong finish to the season.

He said: “I took just as much satisfaction from the clean sheet as I did my goal.

“Keeping clean sheets is something we’ve struggled with recently but if we have that solid foundation then the worst we can do is draw.

“We’ve worked really hard at being hard to break down and the main thing last Saturday was keeping the clean sheet.

“We haven’t done that for a while so we’re delighted.

“Right now we’re confident we can score goals.

“We have enough quality in the final third but it’s about being solid from top to bottom.

“We’ve done that these last two games and it’s paying off right now. “But there’s still a long way to go. “We have three more games and we need to carry on this momentum.”