(Photo by Ross Parker/SNS Group via Getty Images)
Dundee manager James McPake says carrying a 2-1 lead in the Scottish Premiership play-off final is ‘a great pressure’ to have.
The Dens Park club beat Kilmarnock 2-1 in the first leg and avoiding defeat in the second leg at Rugby Park on Monday secures their return to Scotland’s top flight. Dundee could have been more than one goal ahead, such was their dominance in Tayside, but McPake is content with the lead.
Dundee control the tie. (Photo by Mark Scates/SNS Group via Getty Images)
That is if they repeat their Dens Park performance away to Kilmarnock: “These are the games you want to be involved in. The pressure for us is getting to the Premiership. We have a chance to go down there and win to take us there. They have the chance of losing their Premiership status, so that’s different.
“I wouldn’t say that’s a great pressure for them to have. Two years ago they finished third in the league. But big games come with big pressure and we want that. If you had told me at the start of the season we’d be 2-1 up in the play-off final going away to anyone, we take that. I can’t wait for it.
“Kilmarnock are a good team with good players, but we nullified them. We look at what we can do. Of course we look at where they are strong and how we can stop them and nullify them. But it’s a case of going again and believing that we can perform at that level. We do it again and we’re a Premiership club.
“It would mean a lot to get there as a football club as a whole. But for the fans it will be special because we feel we are a Premiership-sized club.”
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