Steven Pressley admits Dundee ‘lacked belief’ in drab derby display as he provides transfer update.

Dundee United defeated the Dark Blues easily at Dens Park. Drab Dundee “lacked belief” in their derby defeat to rivals Dundee United, confesses Steven Pressley.

The Dark Blues were unable to lay a glove on their fierce rivals at Dens Park, as goals in each half from Zac Sapsford and Ivan Dolcek secured United’s first win of the season.

The home crowd booed at halftime, but full-time was met with disinterest as the away fans celebrated jubilantly. “We didn’t do enough to get anything from the game,” Pressley said.

“We had the ambition and hard ethic, but we lacked belief and ball-handling ability. “We need to improve our last ball and the number of bodies in the box.

“The disappointment was that we had certainly earned some praise over the prior few weeks. “It was an opportunity for us to gain momentum and create a positive atmosphere around the club, which can be really beneficial, but it was not to be.

“We have to take today’s situation, losing in your own stadium to your greatest rivals and use that as a fuel.”

Turgid

Dundee matched United’s 3-4-2-1 formation but were unable to get close to their opponents throughout the home side’s sluggish 90 minutes.

United took the lead 14 minutes in when Sapsford returned. The home defence fell asleep, allowing the excellent Luca Stephenson to keep the ball in.

The Australian then showed his best form in the centre, beating the home defence at the near post.

Dundee’s finest chance of the game came on 28 minutes, when Simon Murray found himself in behind after Bert Esselink went down, but Yevhenii Kucherenko saved.

Steven McLean, the referee, then blew for a foul. Going into the break, the home team had the opportunity to regroup and try to fire themselves up. Dolcek’s powerful strike on 77 minutes ensured United’s comfortable victory.

Perseverence

Even more galling for Dundee fans after watching that 90 minutes is Pressley’s admission that there would most likely be more of it ahead.

“We’re only four games into a season and it’s going to take time, it’s going to take a lot of perseverance,” he told reporters.

“We’ve signed a lot of players, and I don’t expect to have the entire team or squad inside one window. But I believe we’ve made some progress in that area. “We need to be competitive.

I believe we have proved this in all of our competitive games. “We need more. We need to improve. I understand that, but I believe we have made some progress.”

Transfer deadline

When asked if additions would be made before Monday’s deadline, Pressley was unsure. “There’s nothing imminent at this moment,” he told me. “We’re obviously assessing the market but nothing really to report at present.”

Is there any going out? “Not at the moment. We received requests about one of our players, but he declined to take advantage of the chance, so there is no concern there.

“But you never know in the next 24 hours what can happen.” However, it took until 69 minutes for either team to have a shot in the second session, with United debutant Nikolaj Moller firing straight at McCracken.

Ethan Hamilton stung Kucherenko’s hands with a long-range effort after 70 minutes, but the home team’s performance did not improve.

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