Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Dundee boss James McPake talks manager pressure as he prepares for ‘crucial’ clash with Callum Davidson’s St Johnstone

Dundee boss James McPake and St Johnstone manager Callum Davidson
Dundee boss James McPake and St Johnstone manager Callum Davidson are both under real pressure ahead of Wednesday's clash.

Dundee boss James McPake admits it would be foolish to underestimate the importance of Wednesday night’s trip to bottom side St Johnstone.

The Dark Blues sit just two points above last season’s double cup winners and will drop to the foot of the table with defeat.

Dundee head into the contest on the back of six straight league defeats, though they did win in the Scottish Cup at the weekend, while Saints have lost their last 10 in all competitions.

McPake, however, is encouraging his players to ignore the form book.

He said: “Nothing will be decided this week but let’s not underestimate just how important this game is for both teams.

Dundee boss James McPake during the victory at Dumbarton.
Dundee boss James McPake during the victory at Dumbarton.

“We’re looking at catching the teams above us and to get out of the run of form we are in.

“We were deserving winners the last time but that was a while ago. We’re on a bad run, they are on a bad run, but we need to go there and be positive.

“Forget the form St Johnstone are in because we need to go there and be a very good Dundee team.

Dundee got the better of St Johnstone in their last meeting thanks to a Danny Mullen strike.

“We have shown performances and levels we can reach this season, we need to get back to that very quickly.

“It’s a crucial game.”

Pressure

St Johnstone continued their dreadful recent run with a cup shock at League Two Kelty Hearts, ending their defence of the Scottish Cup at the first hurdle.

After the game, travelling Saints fans were furious at the result and let the players know about it, up close and personal, as they made their way through fans in the away end to their dressing-room.

“To be honest, I didn’t like those scenes,” McPake said.

“I am not interested in what situation St Johnstone are in but what I will say is that I have a lot of time and have huge respect for Callum.

Callum Davidson and his St Johnstone players had a long walk out of New Central Park.
Callum Davidson and his St Johnstone players had a long walk out of New Central Park.

“I didn’t like that but that seems to be the way football appears to be going at the minute.

“It happens to every manager. When you lose games the buck stops with you and we accept that as managers.

“Callum accepted it in his interview.

“But that is not my concern – my concern is that we turn up as a good Dundee team.

“We need to find ways to win games of football and we need to do that quickly as we are in a dangerous position in this league.

“It is extremely important that we stay in this league this season.

“We will be stronger come the end of the window but we have games before then that are vitally important to this club.

“The first one is on Wednesday night so we need to go down there and put a performance on.”

Ex-Fulham and Dundee star Kevin McDonald training with St Johnstone after Dundee United stint ends