Dundee’s Matt Lockwood has revealed that having successfully completed their “mission impossible” and secured division one safety, the club’s players have another assignment to fulfil before the season ends-to prove they are the true league champions.
Lockwood insists that sense of togetherness is one of the reasons why no one inside Dens ever considered that they were chasing a lost cause after the 25-point deduction.
“There is massive relief now,” he said. “It has been a long hard slog but the lads have done ever so well and are proud of themselves as they rightly should be.
“It was billed as mission impossible when we were first told how many points we were going to be deducted. But we never at any time thought we would go down.
“We had studied league tables from previous years and looked at the points needed to escape relegation and we knew that it was not totally impossible.
“Despite that, I am sure the point deduction was designed to send us down.
“So we have defied the odds and have proved a few people wrong we have probably annoyed a few people as well which is always nice,” he smiled. “It was all about survival this season as a club in general. When you hear the immortal word ‘liquidation’ it is scary.
“So we knew it was a big hill to climb but we have players in that dressing room who are more than capable of it.
“It has been a magnificent team effort.”
Lockwood also paid tribute to boss Smith.
The rookie manager was thrown in at the deep end when he took the job but he has masterminded the club’s first division survival with a tiny squad that has been bolstered with trialists including players from the junior leagues.
Lockwood believes Smith is deserving of the highest praise. “You cannot see past Barry for manager of the year,” he said. “Obviously, there are others like the Raith boss and the Dunfermline manager who have done well.
“It would maybe be a bit of a sore subject if the gaffer did get it as there would be egg on a few people’s faces in certain places. I think there is only one winner but then I would do as I am biased.”
That boss, who was lucky to escape with his ribs intact after a massive bear hug from Douglas at the final whistle said, “Words fail me as to how proud I am of those boys.
“It is incredible what they have done. There is a tremendous team spirit and that will never change.”
The Dark Blues’ narrow 1-0 victory on Saturday in Dingwall against Ross County set the seal on one of Scottish football’s most remarkable and unlikely achievements.
Escape artist Harry Houdini extricated himself from some tight spots in his time but even he would have baulked at the task handed down to the Dundee players last November.
Docked 25 points by the SFL for entering administration for the second time and banned from signing any new players, it seemed an impossible task for the Dark Blues to prevent themselves plummeting into the second division.
However, boss Barry Smith and his small band of players have pulled off a great escape and secured their first division status against all the odds.
There were emotional scenes at the final whistle in Dingwall which, considering everything the players and management have had to overcome, were fully understandable.
Now, having assured their safety, Lockwood insists the players still have a big statement to make that if they had not suffered the points punishment, they would be playing in the SPL next season.
“We don’t stop talking about that,” said the popular Englishman. “That’s our mission now we want to show that if we had not been docked the 25 points, we would have won the league.
“As things stand, we would be two points clear of Dunfermline. The Ross County match was all about survival, the next two games at home to Partick and away to Queen of the South will be to show we would have won the league if we hadn’t had the points taken away.
“We will see what happens, but at the end of the day, we have done our job.
“There is no pressure on us in the final two matches.
“We are not going to go down now and the mission has been accomplished. But there is still tremendous professional pride and a determination to finish off the season well.”Long tripOver 600 Dundee fans made the long trip to Dingwall in the hope of witnessing history being made.
As it turned out, the journey was well worthwhile, although there were more than a few scary moments along the way to ensure it was a nail-biting 90 minutes.
The first half was instantly forgettable with both sides battling for dominance on a hard, unforgiving surface.
However, the game sparked into life after the break with former Dundee striker Steven Milne hitting a superb volley which left Rab Douglas helpless as it crashed off the underside of the crossbar, but then bounced to safety.
County were left to rue that bad luck in the 65th minute when their keeper Michael McGovern was guilty of a horrendous blunder which gifted Dundee their winning goal.
The Staggies centre-half Scott Boyd had sent a long pass-back towards McGovern but instead of making an instant clearance, he tried to take a touch.
However, Dundee’s tireless teenage striker Leighton McIntosh who was handicapped throughout by a hamstring strain closed him down, nicked the ball off him and then calmly stroked it into the empty net to send the Dundee fans into raptures.
A minute later, those supporters’ hearts were in their mouths as Douglas pulled off an outstanding half-stop from a rasping Milne shot with Craig McKeown on hand to clear off the line.
County, who are involved in a relegation fight of their own, continued to press for the remainder of the game but the Dark Blues just would not yield and held on to the final whistle.
The Dundee players saluted the fans, then gathered together with the management for an emotional huddle on the pitch.
Continued…