Curran insists team spirit can help Dundee survive
MOTHERWELL
V DUNDEE
Craig Curran is convinced he will not suffer a repeat of last season’s Ross County relegation and insists the Dundee dressing room is free of the dark forces which dragged the Staggies down.
The Dens Park striker, pictured, is desperate to avoid a second straight demotion after his former club lost their Premiership status 12 months ago. Steven Ferguson and Stuart Kettlewell were given the County reins for the final three months of the season after Owen Coyle quit. But by that point it was already too late, with Curran claiming “bad presences” in the dressing room were to blame as the Staggies slid towards the Championship.
The outlook does not look any brighter this term, with new club Dundee six points adrift at the bottom with four games to play. Jim Mcintyre’s squad will have to arrest a run of eight straight defeats if they are to get back on track against Motherwell when they travel to Fir Park today. But Curran reckons the unity in the Dens camp can see them pull off a remarkable escape act.
He said: “Our situation is on my mind every day – we care, I care, the lads care. When I hear people questioning if we’ve thrown the towel in, it angers me because I see what everyone is doing out there and how they are after games.
“I was relegated with County last year and don’t want to suffer it again. I’d pay a lot of money to ensure we don’t go down. “Had Fergie and Kets got the job earlier I think we would have stayed up. The couple of months before they took charge you could feel there were some bad presences in the team and the dressing room. But it’s not like that here. I look round the lads here and I don’t get that same dark feeling. We’re not winning games though, so we need to use that spirit we have to make sure we do kick on.”
Meanwhile, Motherwell keeper Trevor Carson could be back in the fold before the end of the season after recovering from deep vein thrombosis.
The Northern Ireland international was back on the training pitch this week and doing some work with goalkeeping coach Craig Hinchliffe for the first time since developing a blood clot in November.