James McPake expects Partick Thistle to become play-off rivals for Dundee.
But he is determined that Ian McCall’s men are nearer the bottom of the Championship table than their part of it after tomorrow’s clash at Firhill.
“I didn’t expect them to be near the bottom the league when the season started,” McPake admitted. “They’re another big club.
“I think they’ll be knocking on the play-off door.”
There have been a few blows for the Dark Blues to absorb this season and the previous Thistle game at Dens, when the hosts collapsed to throw away three points, is certainly among them.
“The result the last time still hurts us,” said McPake.
“They’ll be more confident than they were the last time because of that result and the two wins in a row they’ve just had.
“They have real threats in attack so we need to be better defensively, which we will be.
“Going forward I couldn’t asked any more from us on Saturday, which was as a team. But as a team we need to be harder to break down. If we are then I’m confident we’ll get a good result.”
Game management – and in particular, preventing the opposition from scoring soon after they have got a goal themselves – has been a training ground theme this week for Dundee.
McPake explained: “We’ve been putting conditions into training to try and replicate it but nothing compares with a game.
“There have been a few matches in which we’ve scored and then conceded quickly after.
“The players were aware of it but we’ve had a chat and they’re working hard to try to fix it.
“There’s the cliché about being at your most vulnerable when you score but that shouldn’t be the case.
“When you’ve got yourself a goal the crowd will behind you and it’s not as if there’s more pressure on you.
“We need to knock it on the head because it can’t carry on. It’s the hardest thing in football to score a goal and we can’t let it slip so easily.
“It’s about being concentrated and getting back into our shape.”
