Job done for McPake as Dee’s focus now on Premiership survival

Dundee boss James McPake says he would have taken a home draw against Rangers in the Scottish Cup quarterfinals ahead of the last-16 tie at Peterhead.

That’s because it would have meant his Dark Blues had navigated a tricky away tie at Balmoor.

And so it proved as the Blue Toon took the game to their Premiership opponents and were unfortunate to go in at half-time a goal down to Charlie Adam’s penalty.

The top-flight quality told in the second half, though, as Adam set up Niall McGinn for his first Dundee goal before Josh Mulligan sealed a 3-0 victory late on.

“It wasn’t pretty but it’s job done, objective complete and we are in the quarter-finals with a home tie,” said McPake.

“Credit to Peterhead, they were good and we knew it would be tough.

“The TV was here for one reason, the possibility of an upset and we had to make sure that didn’t happen.

“We’ve been in the quarter finals of this cup once in eight years which, for me, isn’t enough.

“Tonight was a great opportunity but it was also a tough one.

“We knew we were going to be pushed and it was just about getting through it.”

The draw for the quarter-finals was held live on TV after the fulltime whistle at Balmoor with Dundee drawn at home to champions Rangers.

That tie will take place on the weekend of March 12 and McPake is looking forward to it.

However, he insists his mind is wholly on the “pivotal” league matches between now and then.

“If you’d asked me before if we would take Rangers in the next round at Dens, I’d have said absolutely because then I knew we’d be through,” McPake said.

“The main thing was getting through tonight and we have some huge league games coming up.

“We will play Rangers then Rangers again so there are big games.

“We gave them a good game at Dens last time they were up, albeit they had a different manager.

“We expect the same. They are a quality side but we’re into a quarterfinal and we’re looking forward to it.”

McPake added: “We’ve been the heavy favourites in these (last) two (cup) ties but we’ve done enough to get through.

“I don’t think you can ever win these ties to be honest, in terms of coming up and winning 3-0, you’re expected to do it.

“We could have made it more comfortable for ourselves but we get there in the end.

“We’ll assess the tie when it comes around. Now the focus switches back to the league and Celtic Park on Sunday.”