'Good players' - Hibs assessed by Dundee boss Tony Docherty ahead of 'tough' clash
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
Dundee boss Tony Docherty is expecting a ‘tough’ game against Hibs this weekend, despite his opponents’ lowly position in the Scottish Premiership table. David Gray’s side are bottom of the league and have won only once so far this season.
The Edinburgh outfit have eight points on the board from their first 12 fixtures. They were beaten 2-1 at home by St Mirren in their last game before the international break and will want to hit some form.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdSpeaking ahead of Hibs’ visit to Dens Park on Saturday, Dundee manager Docherty has said: “I don’t look at it any other way other than it’s a game against Hibs. Hibs are a good team with good players. When we do our analysis on any team we look at their strengths and their weaknesses, so I know the type of game we are going to get.
“I know they will bring down a big travelling support, so in terms of atmosphere it will be good and obviously it is on TV so that gives an extra motivation for players as well. It will be a tough game and we need to make sure that we are at our best.
“I can only control what I can control and that’s my squad, so, as I say, we’ve been working on certain things over the international break in relation to previous games and more so in preparation for this game. So hopefully we can execute that game plan and it will give us a better chance of picking up maximum points.”
‘Fine margins’...
He continued: “That’s the nature of the league, it is so competitive and there are really fine margins in games. We are sitting five points less than we were last year and there has been a lot of games when we could have picked up more points. But we are where we are and Hibs are where they are so it’s just about addressing what’s in front of you just now.”
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdDundee are positioned in 7th position and have won three of their first 12 games. They were beaten 4-1 away at Aberdeen last time out, but beat Kilmarnock 3-2 in their last home clash.
Gray will want to see a reaction from his Hibs players after their loss to St Mirren. He apologised to the supporters after they were defeated by the Buddies and said: “Firstly, I apologise to the fans for the first half performance. I haven’t had to do that this season. Today that first half performance wasn’t good enough. There was a lack of fight at times, we were slow to react at times, there was a lack of quality and bravery on the ball, individual errors, people trying to play in the wrong areas at times, and we didn’t show the attitude to win the ball back.
“They started on the front-foot, won more second-balls, showed more fight than us, but when we showed any kind of quality, we played through them, which is what we worked on all week. The first half performance was way below what we expect, though; that was the message at half-time.”
Comment Guidelines
National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.