Gary Bowyer was delighted to see his Dundee side come through a different sort of test as they kept up his 100% record as Dens Park boss.
The Dark Blues faced a tricky away tie at Championship rivals Queen’s Park in the Premier Sports Cup group stage.
But they came away with an impressive victory with first-half goals from Alex Jakubiak and Cammy Kerr enough to take all three points.
The second half was far from a stroll, however, as Owen Coyle’s side got themselves back into the game on 52 minutes as Louis Longridge fired home.
‘Brilliant’
Though he’d have preferred to see his side put the game to bed earlier, Bowyer was pleased to see his side put under stress late on as Queen’s Park pushed for an equaliser.
And, more importantly, see the game out 2-1.
“It was a great test for us. We knew it would be different,” Bowyer said.
“It’s easy to say now but I said to (assistant) Billy Barr halfway through the second half ‘brilliant, this is a great game for us now’.
“The goal was a poor goal from our point of view, we should have pressed it better in their half and then the defending wasn’t good enough.
“But we got to see what we were made of character-wise in terms of managing the game.
“We’d taken the two experienced lads off, that was the plan anyway.
“But it was really interesting and made it a proper cup-tie towards the end.
“They were putting the ball in the box and we defended well, throwing ourselves in front and Harry Sharp made an unbelievable save.
“So we’re really pleased to come through that.”
‘Wasted good opportunities’
On the balance of chances, Dundee could easily have netted a couple more on the night with Jakubiak and Paul McMullan missing big opportunities.
Bowyer, though, was pleased with the approach play from his Dark Blues as he praised the travelling support.
“I thought some of the football we played in front of an unbelievable away following was really, really good,” the Dundee boss added.
Cracking night for it pic.twitter.com/sIf9QHb9Sn
— George Cran (@di_cranio) July 19, 2022
“The patterns we worked on and way we shifted the ball, the only missing thing was the finish.
“Once we got the first goal, the confidence grew.
“Queen’s Park had a few opportunities where we gave it away a little cheaply.
“The second goal was a wonderful goal from Cammy but that was no surprise because he’s been doing it in training, going up for set-plays. It was an unbelievable finish from him.
“Being critical, we’ve not converted chances.
“Their keeper made a great save from Ryan Sweeney and after that we missed three one-on-ones, wasted really good opportunities.
“Still a lot of things to work on.”
4 talking points as Dundee take charge of League Cup group with victory at Queen’s Park
Conversation