He may suffer from derby disappointment more than most but Dundee defender Cammy Kerr is glad to have the opportunity to tick off a boyhood wish this week.
The lifelong Dee is the club’s longest-serving player and is closing in on 200 career appearances for his hometown club.
Kerr has captained the Dark Blues, won promotion twice, scored goals and won derbies – all dreams for any young Dundee fan.
What the 25-year-old hasn’t experienced yet is stepping out at the national stadium in a Dundee shirt with silverware on the line.
And a place at Hampden beckons if Kerr & Co. can get the better of holders St Johnstone in Wednesday’s Premier Sports Cup quarter-final at Dens Park.
“For me, it means everything as a fan,” he said.
“I’ve grown up doing things at Dundee I never thought I’d do.
“As a boy I’ve watched from the stand, as a player I’ve got to captain this club, got to win derbies, got promoted twice and almost touching 200 appearances for the club I grew up watching.
“One thing I don’t have is playing at Hampden, having a bit of silverware, having that opportunity to get a bit of silverware.
“That would be massive for me.”
‘There is a lot of talk about Dundee under-achieving in cups’
Kerr has been in the first team at Dens Park since 2014 but the club’s last appearance at the national stadium in the latter stages of a cup competition came almost a decade before.
That was a forgettable 3-0 defeat to Gretna in 2006. For a showpiece League Cup appearance at Hampden, you have to go back to 1995 and the final with Aberdeen.
“I would have been at the Scottish Cup Final in 2003 and then we lost in the semi-final to Gretna,” Kerr recalled.
“It has been a while and that is something as a club we have to change.
“I know there is a lot of talk about Dundee under-achieving in cups and where we should be.
“But, that is down to us as players to change that.
“We have to go and prove we are a big enough club to be in a semi-final.
“The fans are due that. We had a lot of good stuff going on last season when we got promoted and it was a great time for the club.
“The fans didn’t really get the chance to enjoy that with us because of Covid.”
Derby defeat ‘raw’
More importantly the club and fans would like to put Sunday’s derby defeat at Dundee United in the rear-view mirror as quickly as possible.
“It is still a bit raw but you have to put it behind you,” Kerr added.
“It was a massive disappointment for us as a team but we have another opportunity on Wednesday to progress in the cup.
“That is the incentive now.”
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