Steven Pressley on Hibs penalty verdict as he names 'exceptional' Easter Road ace who came up trumps during win
The Dundee boss remained positive despite the 2-0 defeat in Leith against a rampant Hibs side.
Steven Pressley has had his say on a possible penalty incident for Dundee against Hibs at Easter Road.
In a repeat of the season opener, David Gray’s side emerged 2-0 victors to keep themselves third place in the Premiership table. Kieron Bowie, who got a brace at Dens Park in August, was back amongst the goals on Saturday, while Jamie McGrath finished off a tidy second half passage of play to secure the victory for the Hibees.
As for the visitors, they remain 11th in the table after just one win in their last seven following a horrible run of fixtures. They had their moments against Hibs and produced a few good saves from Raphael Sallinger, who Pressley was impressed with on the day.
The Dark Blues boss also gave his verdict at a possible penalty his side could’ve been awarded when they were a goal down. Tricky winger, Tony Yogane went down in the box under the challenge of Rocky Bushiri, however, referee Steven MacLean booked the Brentford loanee for diving.
‘I wasn’t convinced’ - Pressley on diving incident
Honest as ever, the former Hearts captain believed that MacLean made the right call not to point to the spot. He said: “I’ve looked at it, but only from one angle which was inconclusive. I wasn’t convinced it was a penalty. It was difficult to see if there was contact foot-to-foot. But Yogane was really exciting and caused Hibs a number of problems today.”
Despite the defeat, Pressley was still happy with his side’s performance and took the positives from the chances they created. He continued: “It’s concerning because I want us to score. We’re working exceptionally hard at that. We had much more bodies arriving in the box.
“Of course we need the end product and I’m confident that the goals will come. When you lose games, no head coach enjoys it. But it was a game where I felt we actually can take quite a number of things from.”
‘Exceptional’ Sallinger saves frustrates Dundee boss
The Hibs number one made a miraculous reaction save at the death when Clark Robertson struck from close range. Before that, he stopped Yogane from making it 2-1 in the closing stages. The Dundee boss claims had it not been for the exploits of the Austrian stopper, the scoreline could’ve been a lot different. He said: “if it wasn’t for a couple of exceptional saves, and then we had a chance towards the end where we blazed over with the goalkeeper out, then we certainly should have scored.
“I thought we created numerous good opportunities. We didn’t come here to sit in and try and shut up shop. We came here to be aggressive with pressure, aggressive with the ball. There’s context that have Hibs are way ahead of us in terms of our development as a team. But I thought we were brave today but ultimately, we know we need to win games of football.
"Their goalkeeper produced a couple of really big saves. So, I saw improvement. And sometimes when you’re on a losing streak like we are, it’s difficult to see the type of improvement that we saw today, which is greater courage with the ball. I think that says a lot about the players. Because when you’re losing games, you tend to lose belief in possession. We didn’t do that today.”