Dee ready for any play-off challenges

Manager James Mcpake says Dundee have the squad to cope with the demands of the Premiership play-offs after booking their place at the weekend.

A 2-1 victory over secondplaced Raith Rovers confirmed their finish in the Championship’s top four with one match remaining.

That one match could prove crucial, with the runners-up given a bye into the semi-final stage.

Raith currently hold that position but need to beat champions Hearts at home on Friday to guarantee it.

Dundee, meanwhile, head to a Queen of the South side who are safe from relegation and can no longer get into the promotion play-offs a point behind.

Should their potential route to promotion require two extra games, however, Mcpake is confident he has the players – and the number of players – to cope.

The Dens men will certainly be without midfielder Fin Robertson for the run-in.

They are also missing goalkeeper Jack Hamilton and left-back Jordan Marshall through injury, but both are expected to be available again before the end of the campaign.

However, there was good news for Paul Mcgowan after he suffered no lasting effect of the tackle that saw Dylan Tait red carded on Saturday.

Liam Fontaine, meanwhile, limped off and Declan Mcdaid missed the weekend clash but neither hamstring issue is serious.

With all but Robertson to come back, that leaves a squad of 21 to choose from for what could be seven matches over 24 days.

“We know there is still a job to do and we have a massive task in front of us,” Mcpake said.

“The squad size is one we think is strong enough for these matches and we have been getting bodies back as well.

“Our only aim on Saturday was to get the three points that would secure the play-off spot.

“We want that second place – Raith are there just now but we’ll see what happens.”

Kyle Benedictus’ late goal denied Dundee a fifth clean sheet in their last nine outings and the Dens boss credits his players for the defensive improvement of late.

A big part of that he says has been tightening up while defending set-pieces, a situation they struggled with at times earlier in the campaign.

Mcpake added: “We would have liked the clean sheet but the team showed real character after conceding.

“I genuinely felt comfortable that we would see it out and that’s not always been the case this season.

“I’ve noticed a difference in the squad recently.

“It’s taken a while for things to come together but I believe we are in a good place now.

“The goal will have annoyed (goalkeeper) Adam Legzdins and the defence.

“The difference in us now is coming from all the hard work done by the players and they deserve huge credit for what they’ve been doing in the last wee while.

“We were losing a lot of goals from set-plays earlier in the season but we sat down and identified what we thought the problem was and tried to fix it.

“I think that one on Saturday was the first we conceded from a set-piece since the last Raith game so we have got really good at defending them.

“I’ve said before that setplays are so important and that’s been the case recently.”

That has been proved at the other end too, with Liam Fontaine adding his fourth goal of the season to net the eventual winner on Saturday.

With Lee Ashcroft already on six goals himself, that brings the central defensive partnership to double figures in goals.

And that has given the side a huge lift says Mcpake.

“We ask our defenders to contribute, we need them to be chipping in with goals and they have done that,” he said.

“Deliveries have been good, whether it’s Paul Mcgowan or Charlie Adam and the big guys are willing to put their head in where it hurts.

“It is a bonus for us having defenders who can do that.

“We have Osman Sow, Danny Mullen is very good in the air and Jason Cummings has scored plenty of headers, too.

“There’s also Charlie Adam and Jordan Mcghee as well, so we have real threats.

“I felt at the end of last season we were getting good in both boxes – scoring at one end and not conceding at the other.

“I feel we are getting back to that.”

DIGGING DEEP: James Mcpake has confidence in his squad to handle the play-offs.