Dark Blues shaping up

PLAYERRATINGS McCann’s new-look side fight to come out on top

THE picture of how Dundee under Neil McCann will operate is slowly emerging and fans were given another snippet as his team battled right to the end to make it two pre-season wins from two as they came out on top at Arbroath.

It looks likely, however, to be next week’s opening League Cup tie at Raith Rovers before anyone outside Dens Park gets a clear idea of how this new-look side is going to play.

Saturday at Gayfield saw McCann again use as many players as possible with, as was the case at St Mirren last Tuesday, goalkeeper Scott Bain the only man to complete the full game.

That may change somewhat at Brechin tomorrow night when more of the men likely to be on duty in that Stark’s Park tie, could be handed prolonged game time.

With the manager’s signing plans unlikely to be completed for at least another couple of weeks, it could still be a few games into the Premiership season before what he regards as his strongest line-up is seen.

For all that, some things are already clear — most of all that this will be a team from whom 100% effort is demanded from first minute to last.

To be honest, Dundee were not great. Even allowing for the fact the players were still at the stage of getting the rustiness out of their legs — in the first half in particular the fans who travelled to make up the majority of the crowd saw a sloppy performance.

By the break, when seven substitutions were made, no clear-cut chances had been created and Dundee had no complaints about trailing to a Steven Doris penalty.

It came from an error from new boy Jack Hendry in the shape of a clumsy tackle that sent Doris tumbling.

Given that Hendry had not played at all since early May and his pre-season and previous employers Wigan started a week or so after that of his new club, such an error was not a surprise.

And in fairness to the 22-year-old, otherwise during his 45-minute run-out he was given, he looked good.

After the break, the Dark Blues were determined to turn things round and if, for much of the half, they didn’t look like making the breakthrough, the fact they kept at it was encouraging.

The goals from the lively Faissal El Bakhtaoui and Randy Wolters in the last 10 minutes were reward for that commitment and, if losing was a little harsh on the Lichties, it was good to see a Dundee team that suffered too many soft defeats last season fighting right to the end.

The performances of El Bakhtaoui and Wolters, even apart from their goals, were also reasons for optimism.

That El Bakhtaoui remains a work in progress is obvious and where exactly he’ll fit into the team is a conundrum, but that he has something that makes you want to see more is not in doubt.

Wolters, meanwhile, is a fans’ favourite i n the making. He was unlucky when he was denied by sub goalkeeper Calum Brodie earlier in the second half and his rifled low finish for the winner was a joy to behold.

To finish on another encouraging note, his second-half display showed midfielder Scott Allan still possesses the quality not just to be a big player for Dundee in the coming campaign but in the Premiership as a whole.

He sees passes others just can’t imagine. That makes him, potentially, worth his weight in gold.