Dundee 2
Greenock Morton 1
League (Premier Division)

Manager's Programme Notes

Today is the first time we have welcomed you to Dens Park for a league fixture on a Sunday and we must thank Morton for agreeing to play this game today.

Everyone at Dens Park feels we have to try to discover which will be the best day to play our league matches and we must emphasise that today's fixture is an experiment. We will be judging the success of failure of the try-out from the attendance.

I have always felt we are too traditional in football and we must look at every way to try to encourage new supporters to come to our games at Dens Park. Of course I am very well aware that the best way to bring people back to the ground is to build a winning team. This is our No. 1 aim, but we must also try to find out which day suits our fans best.

Our recent results have been reason ably encouraging and even more important our standard of football is improving by the week. The result at Parkhead last Saturday was a great disappointment for everyone. After going ahead and maintaining our lead for such a long time, to lose the game in such controversial circumstances was indeed disappointing. The good thing from the games was that for an hour we matched, if not played out, the league leaders. We must try to build on this performance.

When we consider that five of the players in our side at Parkhead were under 21, it augurs well for the future of Dundee Football Club.

Morton always make life very difficult for their opponents, whether it be at home or away, although their away record this season has not been as impressive as I am sure Benny Rooney would have liked. Their home form has been second to none. If they can strike their best form, they can make it very difficult for us this afternoon. We have to be determined in our own minds to get something from this match.

Everyone at Dens Park is very pleased that Bobby Geddes got his second cap. for the under-21 side and we all wish him well at what we hope is the beginning of an international career which will continue at the higher level. The work Bobby put in recovering from his injury last season was an example to all at Dens. We also hope he is the first of many more Dundee players who will work hard enough to gain international honours and to play in the Dark Blue of Dundee and Scotland. This is what I want and I am sure it is what our supporters want.

The game against Partick on Wednesday was very disappointing and this must go down as our worst performance of the season. It appeared there may have been too much pressure on our players in this important match and we did not compete as we should. Now there is that much more for us to do in our remaining games.