Dundee’s Paul McGinn says sitting through the video of Sunday’s derby defeat was as terrifying as watching a Stanley Kubrick horror movie.
The Dark Blues were, of course, beaten 4-1 by Dundee United at Dens with Paul Hartley’s team producing a performance littered with individual mistakes that cost them dear.
That made for painful viewing for the players at the start of this week as they were shown the error of their ways by the manager as he ran through the video nasty.
However, McGinn insists the Dundee squad are ready to make amends when they play United again tonight at Tannadice.
The summer signing from Dumbarton said: “We watched the video back of the game on Monday it was like The Shining.
“We had to watch from behind our fingers. Luckily we didn’t watch the full game, just bits and pieces of it and the things we could improve on.
“There were the things that we did wrong but also some of the things we did well, so it wasn’t all doom and gloom.
“But overall it wasn’t nice to see it like that and the mistakes we made. It was a sore one. Everyone was down but the manager stressed to us that it was our first defeat.
“It was harder because it was a derby but we can’t let it get to us it was just a blip.
“We need to pick ourselves up and get on with it. Sometimes after a result like that you are in an international break and you are sitting going over it for two weeks.
“We have the chance to go out right away and make amends.”
McGinn added: “It’s not really daunting to play them again, because we gifted them it really. Guys like Ryan Dow and Gary Mackay-Steven played very well but it wasn’t like they were beating three players and sticking the ball in the top corner.
“We gave away the goals and if we did that against any side we would have conceded. Losing goals from set-pieces was a sore one because we have been so good at defending them this season.
“We won’t change too much, we have our usual routine, but the manager might switch a few things here or there.
“What annoyed us the most was the fact we gifted them their goals. The goals we gave away were criminal you’d get punished for those mistakes at any level.
“We have had such a good start better than anyone would have expected so the confidence is still there. We can’t let one result derail us. We are still happy with where we are at this stage.”
McGinn was made aware of just how much the defeat meant to the club’s fans immediately after the derby defeat when he toured the hospitality lounges.
With the Dark Blues’ last win over United coming nearly 10 years ago, he could understand why the supporters were hurting so much, especially as expectation levels had risen following Dundee’s eight-game unbeaten start to the season.
He said: “I had to do the hospitality suites after the game so you feel how much it means to the fans. You could see they were hurting, as we were.
“Ten years is too long to go without a win in the derby and we have to make amends. I think a couple of years ago when we came up the circumstances were different in the way we prepared. But this time we should have given a better account of ourselves.
“Maybe it was a back-handed compliment the way people were talking about us beforehand but we need to go out and prove it.”