Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Cameron won’t ‘embarrassing’
LYALL Cameron admits the Dundee squad haven’t watched a video rerun of Wednesday night’s horror show at Celtic Park.
The Dark Blues were demolished 7-1 by the rampant Hoops, with the midfielder admitting the scale of defeat was embarrassing.
However, Cameron is adamant that Dundee cannot allow that hammering to define their season and instead their full focus is on what is ahead of them, starting today against Kilmarnock at Dens.
The Scotland Under-21s star said: “It’s your job at the end of the day and we’ve been embarrassed in front of a lot of people, so it’s not nice.
“But we have come in and put it behind us. We haven’t even watched it back, it’s all about looking forward.
“Having a game so quickly helps us move on.
“The manager just told us it can happen, we played Celtic on a night they were very good and played badly ourselves.
“All you can do is try your best to recover from it and go again, that means focusing on Saturday.
“We limited the damage in the second half and it’s now all about Kilmarnock.
“We can’t let what happened on Wednesday night define our season because we’re going for a top-six place.”
Despite the Celtic result, Dundee still sit one point ahead of seventhplaced Hibs in the table and Cameron insists that shows just how well the Dark Blues have done overall so far this season.
He added: “We have a lot of important games now, so we have
to pick up as many points as we can.
“If you’d asked anyone at the start of the season about being in this position, they’d have snapped your hand off.
“So we’re still in a good place, although we know it’s going to be tough because there are a lot of good teams going for the top six.
“I don’t know how many points it will take, I haven’t a clue – we just have to focus on each game as it comes.”
So far this season, Dundee have drawn twice against Kilmarnock in the league and lost against Derek McInnes’ side in the Scottish Cup.
However, Cameron insists the Dark Blues are due a win against the Ayrshire outfit.
He said: “The games against
Kilmarnock have been a bit weird so far. There has been a lot of drama in them with late goals and stuff.
“Hopefully we are due to beat them this time.
“Kilmarnock have a lot of threats and they are very good at what they do.
“We will have to battle away and earn the right to play. Hopefully if we can do that, we’ll give ourselves the platform to win the points.
“What we have to do is start much better. We didn’t start well at Hibs and then lost an early goal against Celtic.
“We are at home so we need to be at it from the outset, be attacking and hopefully that sets the tone.
“The manager has told us we need to be better than in the last two games.”
DEREK McInnes hailed the “outrageous” running statistics that have helped Kilmarnock on course to a top-six finish this season.
The Ayrshire side’s narrow 2-1 defeat by Premiership leaders Rangers at Rugby Park on Wednesday night was only their second loss in 15 matches, the other coming at Ibrox at the start of the year.
With five fixtures remaining before the split, Killie sit in fourth place in the table, nine points ahead of seventh-placed Hibernian, who have played a game less.
Ahead of today’s trip to sixthplaced Dundee, McInnes praised his squad’s efforts so far this season
– highlighting the work of forwards Kyle Vassell and Marley Watkins in particular – as he looked for Killie to get back to winning ways.
“I think what has to be said is the work-rate of my team is incredible, it really is,” said boss McInnes.
“It’s what it has to be so we are not asking the players to do anything they are not capable of but the willingness starts with (Kyle) Vassell and (Marley) Watkins at the top end of the pitch.
“Their running stats every week are outrageous in terms of what they’re giving us and they set the tone for the rest of the team.
“Matty Kennedy and Danny Armstrong the other night, again big numbers in terms of output.
“My captain Kyle Vassell leads by
example, he is so important to us. But we’ve got a great set of lads who work extremely hard for everything we get.
“The performances so far, the biggest fundamental has been a sheer work-rate to try and make sure we are far more competitive every week and that pleases me, regardless whether it’s playing a team at the bottom of the league or playing a team like Rangers. It’s always been there.
“We don’t have time to dwell on Wednesday night. I am looking for a bounce to go into this game.
“It is too big a game for us to have disappointment hanging over us. The disappointment was raw and real after the other night which says a lot, and testament to what the players have done this year.”