Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Byrne admits league table does not lie as he reflects on season
DUNDEE midfielder Shaun Byrne admits the league table does not lie as the Dark Blues face up to automatic relegation.
With one game to go in this season’s Premiership, the Dark Blues are already condemned to the drop.
That’s after just one win in their last 12 league matches as St Johnstone left them adrift at the foot of the division.
Byrne heads to his former club Livingston tomorrow aiming to finish the campaign on a high.
But he’s honest when it comes to assessing a hugely disappointing return to the top flight.
“It’s gutting to be relegated back to the Championship,” Byrne said.
Ultimately, we’ve not been good enough this season.
“We’ve lost too many goals and, at times when we have dominated games, not taken our chances.
“That has come back to bite us.
“It’s been our own doing this year.
“We’ve just not been good enough.
“I always feel the league table doesn’t lie, where you finish is where you deserve to finish.
“It’s not over just one game, it’s a large number so it’s disappointing.
“When you are not winning games, confidence is low. No matter what people say, when you are conceding goals it hits your confidence. You could see boys’ heads go down.
“It is deflating.
“But we have to pick ourselves up and, hopefully, bounce back straight away next season.”
Already the playing squad is thinking ahead to next season as they return to the second tier.
The majority of the Dundee squad is under contract beyond the summer and Byrne reckons, with a few additions, the team is in a good place to come back up.
“As players, we feel we should have been a lot better than what we have been this year,” he said.
“With the players we have, we should have done much better.
“It is good we have most of the boys contracted for next season. We know each other well and we’ll all be looking to put things right next year by getting Dundee back in the Premiership.
“We are a really closeknit group and there will be a few new players added as always in the summer.
“We’ll be looking to bounce straight back up.
“It has been a bit of a yo-yo club over the last few years so we need to get back up and stay up.
“I’ve watched a lot of the Championship this year and obviously played a lot in it.
“Every game is tough. Dundee will be one of the biggest clubs in the division next season so it will be a cup final for teams when they play us.
“They’ll be trying to get a scalp against us.
“But it’s up to us to rise to that challenge.”