JORDAN McGHEE has warned rivals to write Dundee off at their peril – but admits they need to get their title charge back on track this afternoon.
James McPake’s side have gone off the rails in recent weeks suffering back-to-back defeats which leaves them 12 points adrift of leaders Dundee United in the quest for automatic promotion.
Defender McGhee, who was part of Hearts’ Championship-winning side under Robbie Neilson in 2015, reckons there’s still plenty of time left for the Dark Blues to mount a serious push to regain Premiership status.
But he insists they can’t afford too many more slip-ups as they bid to return to winning ways in today’s visit of Queen of the South to Tayside.
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McGhee said: “It’s far too early for us to be written off. Personally, I’ve been in this league for nearly two years now.
“You see a lot of teams can make even a late push. Anything is possible. We just need to pick up as many points as possible and see where it takes us come the end of the season.
“Of course, it would become difficult if the gap were to get bigger but we’ve just got to pick up points – look after our business – and hope something happens and we kick on.
“There’s lots of football still to be played. We’ve had two difficult results to take recently against Dundee United and then Inverness last weekend but it’s good this game is at home and we’ll look to kick on again.”
McGhee is aware United are already been talked about as red-hot favourites to storm towards the title as they remain in pole position in the table. But the 23-year-old full-back has been in football long enough to know that many twists and turns can still happen.
He added: “You get a lot of that even in the top leagues, like people saying Liverpool are going to win the league.
“But you never know what’s going to happen. Football is a crazy game.
“As long as we’re in the mix and getting results, anything can happen.
“Of course, we do owe the fans one for our last home game which was the derby defeat here at Dens.
“We wish we could have done more that night. The supporters know we should be doing more.
“At the end of the day, we’re Dundee Football Club and we should be doing better, up near the top of the table.”
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McGhee knows being mean at the back was a key factor in Hearts being crowned champions in 2015, and has declared Dundee ready to start shutting out the opposition again.
He said: “It was a good season at Hearts and everyone played their part.
“It was Robbie’s [Neilson] first gig as manager. As for our own manager, it’s his first big job as well.
“That’s the way modern-day management is as well, with players who’ve played at a really good level going into management.
“They can pass on that experience. It’s massive and it’s something the gaffer is always doing that to myself.
“We really need to get back to keeping clean sheets.
“When we won the league with Hearts, that’s one thing that was drummed into us.
“If we could keep more clean sheets than anyone else, we would have a better chance of winning the league than anyone - and so it proved. That should give us a good platform for the rest of the season.”
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