MALKY’S PRIDE AS BATTLING COUNTY GIVE THEMSELVES A LIFT
STAGGIES boss Malky Mackay hailed his players for their true grit after they twice came from behind to inflict a second defeat on Dundee in the space of two months.
County also climbed off the foot of the Premiership for the first time since mid-October — albeit on goal difference over St Johnstone — after just one defeat in their last six matches.
But while Mackay’s mood was of quiet satisfaction at the way the situation has turned for his side after they were written off as relegation fodder on the back of a 10-match winless run, counterpart James McPake was furious with his lot.
The Dundee boss claimed that
Mackay had confessed to him at full-time that the Staggies had got out of jail by claiming their third win of the season.
But McPake looked ready to lock his players up and throw away the key after declaring: ‘Bad decisions and three terrible goals cost us all three points in a game where we should have been out of sight.
‘But we had experienced players who made very bad decisions and when you do that, it costs you.
‘Malky said to me his side got out of jail but I disagree. It was all our own doing.
‘Key decisions in the game and three crosses did for us. We gifted them their goals.’
It was difficult not to feel for two-goal Luke McCowan, whose brace amounted to a bittersweet experience.
‘I’m gutted he’s on the losing side after that,’ added McPake. ‘He didn’t deserve that.’
Dundee took the lead on 15 minutes when McCowan squeezed a first-time left-foot shot between goalkeeper Ashley MaynardBrewer’s outstretched left arm and the near post after Liam Fontaine headed the ball down from Paul McMullan’s free-kick.
But County were level again eight minutes later after Regan Charles-Cook spotted Dominic Samuel lurking menacingly in line with the defence and exploited the potential opening.
It took Samuel two attempts to complete the task of equalising after Adam Legzdins blocked the striker’s header.
The ease with which McCowan scored his second after 38 minutes once again highlighted County’s need to stabilize their defence.
The home side’s failure to close down McCowan to the left of the 18-yard box meant the frontman had time to take delivery of a pass from Jordan Marshall and pick his spot to restore Dundee’s lead before the break.
A slack pass by Jack Baldwin gifted McCowan the chance to claim a hat-trick seven minutes into the second half but MaynardBrewer kept his side in the game with a superb one-handed save.
Baldwin partially atoned for his error in the 64th minute when he fed off the scraps of Legzdins’ failure to gather a corner from Joseph Hungbo and help pressurise Danny Mullen into conceding an own goal.
But with 78 minutes on the clock, Charles-Cook was perfectly placed to pounce on Blair Spittal’s cross before the referee had the chance to point to the penalty spot after Jordan White had clearly been pushed in the back.
Mackay reflected: ‘The lay person watching that got a hell of a game for their money.
‘I knew it would be tough just looking at Dundee’s vein of form since we played them. I knew they’d be dangerous.
‘In the first half, we were wasteful with the ball and didn’t quite stamp our authority or make the right decisions. The challenge, then, was to make sure we won our first and second balls.
‘There are ways to win games. Last time we passed them off the park, today we ground the game out and had a will to win.
‘We really grew into the game and I don’t know how we missed some of the chances. But it was great to show we can win by being steely and determined.’