THANKS BOSS
Hemmings is delighted to repay McPake for support
Kane Hemmings expressed his heartfelt thanks to manager James mc Pake for nursing him through the dark days — then vowed to repay him by firing Dundee into the play-offs.
Hemmings hit a first-half double to pile further misery on bottomclub Partick Thistle, and propel the Dark Blues back into the final play-off spot with their first league win since just before Christmas — which also came against the Jags.
The 28-year-old, who rejoined the Tayside club earlier in the season having left them for Oxford United back in 2016, opened his heart by revealing he has endured some testing times of late stemming from an off-field issue.
But the fans’ favourite rallied in sterling fashion with two goals within the space of 11 first-half minutes on saturday, and insisted he wouldn’t have been able to shine in the face of adversity if it hadn’t been for the support of former Dens team-mate mc Pake.
Hemmings said: ‘i want to thank the manager for the last few weeks away from football.
‘it has been a bit of a tough time for me, so i want to thank him and his coaching staff for rallying around me because it could easily have gone another way.
‘Hopefully i can keep scoring goals for him. it has been a tough couple of weeks and he has been brilliant with me, so i can’t thank him enough.’
Hemmings’ opener was from point-blank range after Jordon Forster had been credited with the goal following his header which appeared to have crossed the line, before adding a second in 34 minutes from Paul mcgowan’s sublime pass.
The former Rangers starlet was indeed wary of what had happened in the corresponding fixture when they took the lead against Thistle at Dens, and was intent on avoiding a repeat of October’s events which saw them squander victory with the loss of three late goals.
Hemmings added: ‘it was two goals for me. maybe the person who announced the goal didn’t have his glasses on!
‘Jordon wants it but he’s not getting it. We knew from the start that if we played with any sort of intensity, we would win the game.
‘We have done it before against Partick but, unfortunately, the last time here we allowed them back into the game.
‘We spoke at half-time about being 2-0 up and not giving them any chance to get back into it.’
Dundee are now back in the mix as they trail second-placed inverness by three points in their quest for a Premiership return.
Hemmings, though, is adamant mc Pake’s hopefuls must find some consistency and give everything to secure that runners-up spot in the table to lessen the volume of games in any upcoming play-off.
He added: ‘it’s no good doing what we usually do and win three games then lose four.
‘it’s no good to get a win here and a draw there and then losing. We really have to go at it because we don’t want to be in that fourth spot or even third because it gives you so many games in the play-offs. it’s hard and history shows that.’
meanwhile, Thistle midfielder stuart Bannigan admitted he felt for home midfielder Ross Callachan, who was stretchered off towards the end with a fractured fibula.
Bannigan said: ‘i think his ankle must have got caught in the grass or something. i don’t think there was any sort of collision.
‘For us, we need to take criticism on the chin because we certainly haven’t done enough.’
DUNDEE (3-5-1-1): Hazard 6; Meekings 6, Forster 7, Berra 6; Elliott 6, Dorrans 6, Callachan 7 (Nelson 76), Byrne 7 (Robertson 64), McDaid 6; McGowan 7; Hemmings 8 (Crankshaw 90). Subs not used: Hamilton, Field, Cameron, Strachan. Booked: McGowan, Byrne, Nelson.
PARTICK THISTLE (4-5-1): Fox 6; O’Connor 6 (Jones 70), Brownlie 6, O’Ware 6, Penrice 6, Zanatta 6, Bannigan 6, Cole 6, Cardle 5 (Gordon 46), Barjonas 5 (Saunders 46); Graham 5. Subs not used: Sneddon, Robson, Austin. Booked: Graham, Cole.
Man of the match: Kane Hemmings. Referee: Colin Steven. Attendance: 4,816.