Dundee’s Darren O’Dea insists no thoughts of a Highland hoodoo will be entering his head when he plays at Inverness today.
Incredibly, the Dark Blues have yet to savour victory in a competitive match at the Caledonian Stadium.
It is an unenviable record and one that O’Dea admits amazed him – however, the big Irishman insists it has absolutely nothing to do with the present Dundee team.
Instead, he is looking for a similar result this afternoon to the last time the Dark Blues played in the Highlands when they beat Ross County on the opening day of the league campaign.
The 29-year-old centre-half said: “I have only played up there (Inverness) once for Dundee.
“All of the players who came in this year, none of them have played for Dundee in Inverness so it is not their record and it is not this team’s record.
“As a club it obviously is. You always hear stuff like that and I am amazed by it as well.
“But it is something that doesn’t even come into my head because I didn’t earn that record.
“If I had been here 10 years, then yes but most of our players probably haven’t even played there.
“It is certainly something though that as a club we want to put right.
“We went up to Ross County which is obviously a similar direction and got a great win, especially considering the way we played.
“We really want to go up there and win again against Inverness.”
That success in Dingwall is Dundee’s only league victory to date but O’Dea has learned since he joined the club back in January that the club’s fans will stick by the team through thick and thin.
He said: “I have only been in the door for a number of months but I feel like I am a big part of the team now.
“I know about the history of the club and the fans have stuck by it when it was in dire straits.
“Listen, the way the club is now compared to a few years ago is night and day.
“I speak about it with the rest of the players. It certainly comes from the manager and the owners that this club isn’t happy just to survive – it is about pushing on.
“I like the fact that the fans aren’t happy with losing or dropping points at home.
“So they are well entitled to let us know when they aren’t happy.
“We as a team expect more as well but I have no worries about the fans staying behind this team.
“They stuck by it through many a worse time.”
O’Dea added: “You are trying to get points on the board as early as possible and we have had a few draws and only the one win.
“However, we feel like we are close and with a little more quality, we will come out on the right side of results – hopefully we can do that at Inverness.”
