Pressley calls for character after second cup loss.

Steven Pressley expects his players to show resilience and character after a difficult start to his Dundee reign.

Following defeats to Alloa Athletic and Airdrieonians, the Dark Blues have no chance of progressing to the Premier Sports Cup.

Following Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to League 1 opposition at the Indodrill Stadium, the new head coach told DeeTV: “There is a lot of work ahead of us.” This week’s group matches against Bonnyrigg Rose and Montrose come before the Scottish Premiership opener against Hibernian at home on August 3.

When asked how his squad will respond, Pressley replied: “By accepting, by understanding that it is not good enough, and as a group, me, the players, must show resilience.

“It’s far from an ideal start; it’s not what we wanted, but you have to show character in these moments, and that’s exactly what I expect us to do. “They are an excellent group. “I have stated that we require reinforcements, but this is not enough; we must exceed expectations.” I noticed improvements in our defensive principles; we were much better at them.

But in terms of creativity, we definitely need to improve.”The only goal in Alloa came when Luke Graham deflected a Steven Buchanan shot into his own net on 68 minutes.

Following the game, Pressley told BBC Scotland that he would like to add “five or six” more signings before accepting “full responsibility” for the loss.

“The issue is a combination of a number of things,” he explained. “We do need more players, but I don’t believe we performed well enough today with the players we had on the pitch.

“The choices in possession were not good. I thought we played for too long on several occasions. We need to take more ownership and responsibility and make things happen.

“Some of them tired significantly in the second half, and we appeared to be a team with low intensity at times. We need to find solutions to that.”

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