CAMMY Kerr believes Dundee are due a break in their battle to beat relegation after being denied a penalty in injury-time in their narrow 3-2 defeat by Celtic at Parkhead on Sunday.
Jota clearly headed Kerr’s cross into the home team’s box onto an outstretched arm that was above shoulder height before clearing to safety – but referee Gavin Duncan declined to award the spot kick.
However, the defender won’t allow the Dens Park club’s disappointment at the denouement to the league game in Glasgow to turn into a “sob story” with an important match against St Mirren looming at home tomorrow.
He is focused on helping the bottom-placed side in the top flight to reproduce their all-round team display in Glasgow under new manager Mark McGhee in the coming weeks and avoid relegation.
“There have been times this season, without having a sob story, we’ve been unlucky,” he said. “We’ve shot ourselves in the foot at times, but in certain games we’ve been unlucky.
“From 1-0 down against Hearts we go and win the game. On Sunday, we were unlucky not to take something as well.
“I thought it was a handball. I’ve seen them given, we would have liked to have had it given. But sometimes you get them, sometimes you don’t. As the gaffer said, that hasn’t decided the game. Things happen in football and you just have to get on with it, that’s what we’ve done.
“It’s important we build on that from now on, going into important games this season. It’s just about getting your head down and working away. The boys do that every day.”
Kerr was bitterly disappointed when James McPake, who had led Dundee to promotion from the Championship last season, was sacked after two-and-a-half years in charge last week following two consecutive wins.
But he has been impressed by the impact made by McGhee and his assistant Simon Rusk, who was in the dugout during the Celtic game, and is looking forward to a run of three straight home fixtures.
“Training has been dead enthusiastic and we were very positive in the game plan we tried to impose on Sunday,” he said.
“These games we have coming up are important, but the way we need to approach it is one game at a time. It’s important we focus on the next game and we’ll go again Wednesday.
“St Mirren are in a situation similar to what we’ve just had with a change of manager and things are up in the air, but we just need to make sure we punish them come Wednesday.”
Having grown up in Dundee and sat in the stands at Dens Park cheering on the team as a boy, Kerr feels for the supporters at the moment.
But the 26-year-old is hopeful the display in Glasgow lifted their spirits and is optimistic they can get firmly behind the side and make their presence felt in the forthcoming run.
“Being a fan myself, I know being a Dundee supporter isn’t easy,” he said. “There are a lot of ups and downs.
“We showed our appreciation at the end at how good they were for us Sunday. The home support is going to be massive going forward to get behind the boys. Sometimes you don’t realise the impact they can even have.
“Everyone knows in the dressing room that I am a Dundee fan, I grew up being one. But it’s not about me.
“It’s about this group and having the resilience to pick up results until the end of the season and make sure we’re still fighting in the league next year.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel