James McPake has demanded more resilience from his Dundee team when they continue their survival battle against Hearts at Tynecastle.
Dundee were looking to build on taking a point each against Tayside rivals St Johnstone and Dundee United when they hosted Ross County on Saturday and they had chances to add to Zak Rudden’s opener.
But McPake felt they allowed themselves to be too heavily impacted by Joseph Hungbo’s equaliser late in the first half and Regan Charles-Cook turned the game around after the break to leave Dundee bottom of the cinch Premiership.
Speaking ahead of Wednesday’s trip to Edinburgh, McPake said: “What you have got to be is resilient. As a group we need to show a bit more of that. We need to be more resilient.
“When that goal went in, the heads dropped, and that was a sucker punch, but you can’t let that affect you in football.
“Collectively we have spoken about that and we need to be better at that.
“Because, even though they did score with 30 seconds to go, and yes it was a body blow, and we are looking back and saying we should have been two or three up, it doesn’t mean anything.
“Talk is cheap, you need to put the ball in the net and defend your box.
“By doing that, you get confidence. That was shown in the United game and the St Johnstone game, bodies thrown on the line.
“Then you think you are getting it right at the top end of the pitch and creating chances, there is still that last final bit, but to come out and have that second half was disappointing.
“But the beauty of football is you move on very quickly and we have a massive tie at Tynecastle in front of a packed house.
“Let’s see the reaction and what we get from that.”
