Dundee 1
Aberdeen 3
League (Premier Division)

Manager's Programme Notes

Last Saturday's visit to Easter Road was a source of great frustration to me as our performance over the 90 minutes was such a disappointment.

Having done so well over our previous four games I had reason o believe that we would go about the Hibs game in the correct way. That belief was underlined in the dressing room immediately before the players took the field as they appeared totally determined and committed to getting a good result.

But sadly something happened between then and kick-off and for the entire first-half all the old bad habits were back in evidence.

It is very difficult to play away from home and lose a goal in under a minute and that succeeded only in giving Hibs a real boost to their confidence.

Thereafter, we made the situation worse with some slack play of the very worst kind and it was only after the interval that we began to treat the game in the manner I always look for.

The result was that we gave Hibs a real hard time in that second 45 minutes and the fact that they were playing for time and their fans were whistling for an end to the proceedings surely tells its own story.

I'm in no doubt that had we gone about our business right from the word go with this determination then we would have come home with at least a point.

All our good results this season have come about through hard work and aggression and our players have to be reminded that this is the way to get points in the Premier League.

If ever that point was proved it was by watching the televised highlights of the Aberdeen - Celtic match at Pittodrie. We are all aware that Aberdeen are an extremely gifted side but still EVEN THEY have to work and graft for the rewards that this game can offer.

Against Celtic the Dons took the game by the scruff of the neck right from the word go and kept up the work rate until it was all over! Another reason why I was so disappointed on Satur

day was that we had a bigger than normal travelling support at Easter Road and I felt that we let these people down.

But once again I will say to the fans-Dundee will not become great again overnight there is still a lot of hard work to be done before that can happen.

But if then need any encouragement I would ask them to look only as far as the number of good young players coming through. If these youngsters develop as I know they can, then this club will be in good hands even if the process does take longer than some people might think.

Today, we welcome Aberdeen and they always provide us with a hard time here at Dens. I'm writing this prior to the mid week game against Meadowbank but I hope we did enough then to suggest that we can compete well with the Dons today.