Neil McCann criticises application levels following disappointing cup defeat
Posted Monday, July 23, 2018 by PA
Dundee boss Neil McCann admitted his players were “off it” in their Betfred Cup defeat to Dunfermline.
Dee were far from their best as they went down 1-0 to Jackson Longridge’s early header, and they could have lost by more had it not been for Jack Hamilton.
The new arrival from Hearts denied Myles Hippolyte twice from close range in the first half before Dee gradually grew into the game, but it was a poor performance against Ladbrokes Championship opposition that left McCann frustrated.
“Very disappointed,” he admitted. “I thought they scored a really good goal.
“The warnings were made all week about Ryan Williamson bombing down the right, and it was a terrific cross and a good back-post header.
“The warnings were there about taking too many touches today and passing it.
“I thought we were off it.”
Dundee beat Stirling 4-0 last week to mark a successful start to the season but it looked to have gone back to square one in defeat to the Pars, with injuries to Sofien Moussa, Nathan Ralph and Genseric Kusunga compounding a miserable afternoon.
McCann refused to blame the lack of preparation time.
He said: “I was really pleased last week and then you can’t suddenly go and blame it when you lose.
“The boys know I’m unhappy with them.
“We have picked up three injuries which is a concern and forced us into making changes, but I still believe we have the boys in our squad that should have won the game today.
“Application levels were down.”
The Pars went top of Group D with the impressive win to leave manager Allan Johnston delighted.
“It was a really good performance from start to finish,” he said. “I think we restricted them to very few opportunities and going forward we looked a real threat and could have scored a couple more.”
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