I’m still the right man for Dundee job, says beaten boss McPake
JAMES McPAKE insists he has not lost faith in his ability to lead Dundee following another setback in last night’s loss at Dunfermline. The Dark Blues failed to lay a glove on the Pars in collapsing to a defeat that was inflicted by first-half goals from Ryan Dow and Kevin Nisbet. Fourth-placed Dundee are now just one point ahead of the Pars in the last play-off spot amid a disappointing run of two victories from their last nine league outings. But manager McPake believes he can turn the club’s fortunes around. He said: ‘It was a really poor start, no tempo, no drive and no real fluency. Not enough of our senior players were standing up and being counted. ‘I take the hit on it but what I will say is that I believe in my ability to get this right and I’m working extremely hard, as are the players, but unfortunately it’s not showing. ‘We need to find a way, we need help and need to bring in a couple of players that will freshen the place up.’ Following a dire start to the game, Dow opened the scoring with the first attempt at goal in the 28th minute, heading in Dom Thomas’ teasing delivery. Stevie Crawford’s side doubled their lead five minutes before the break with a stunning solo effort from Nisbet, who notched his 22nd for the season. The free-scoring forward drove at the Dundee defence and cut inside Jordan McGhee before fizzing a drive into the far corner of the net. Some visiting fans had already had enough and headed straight for the exit. Crawford, whose team ended a run of five straight losses, said: ‘When you’re on the back of five defeats it’s difficult to think about where the next win is going to come from. ‘I knew there was goals in this team but the pleasing thing was the clean sheet.’