McPake relieved to advance

DUNDEE manager James McPake admits his side “got away with it” as they survived a huge cup scare against Lowland League Bonnyrigg Rose.

The Dark Blues will now face Premiership St Johnstone in the third round but progression was very much in doubt for the majority of Saturday night’s contest.

“It was a no-win situation for us but it was still really poor,” McPake said after the 3-2 victory.

“Luckily we got away with it and we are in the hat for the next round.

“Credit to Bonnyrigg, they were excellent and made it really hard for us.

“When you have the players with the quality we do we always knew the chances would come but the ball was hitting the bar, goalie making great saves and you start to wonder whether it’s just one of those nights.

“Thankfully, we got it and showed character to get through.”

McPake hailed the efforts of their opposition, in particular the man of the match performance from Rosey Posey keeper Mark Weir after he made a string of spectacular saves.

“Everything we tried he saved and fair play to him,” McPake added.

“He was excellent and didn’t deserve to be on the losing side. He was outstanding.

“I thought my goalkeeper Jack Hamilton deserves credit as well after making a great save in the first half.”

The Dundee boss, however, wasn’t so complimentary about the penalty decisions given by referee Gavin Duncan that gave Bonnyrigg the lead twice.

McPake said: “How the first one is a penalty, I’ll never know. The second one, I don’t know. The first was nothing short of a disgrace.

“We don’t want to take the shine off Bonnyrigg by complaining about penalties, though.

“Their performance warranted a live game on TV so they could show why they are doing so well in their league and why the Lowland League is a good one.

“It didn’t show the best of us, we know that. We’ll address that but now we are seven unbeaten.

“It was night and day from the Hearts performance but if we go on a cup run, no one will remember this game.”