Manager James McPake knows it is possible for a club of Dundee’s size and stature to win the William Hill Scottish Cup but he won’t be getting the silver polish out just yet.
The recent history of the country’s premier knockout competition has seen Hibs lift the trophy while still a Championship club in 2016, Inverness Caley Thistle’s players climb the Hampden steps the year before and St Johnstone beat Dundee United in the final at Celtic Park in 2014.
What all that proved is that you don’t need to be a giant operating at the very top of the Scottish game to be a winner.
Dundee and their fans would be in dreamland were they to get anywhere close to the national stadium this season, never mind lose the tag – relinquished by the Hibees with their 1902 date – of biggest club with the longest Scottish Cup drought. The Dark Blues’ one stretches all the way back to 1910.
McPake is a realist, though, and knows that it is enough for now to be focusing on trying to beat Premiership club Motherwell when they come to Dens Park for their fourth round clash tomorrow night.
Asked about his club’s long wait, he said: “I suppose 1910 is better than 1902, to be fair!
“Listen, it would mean everything to us but we are miles away from that.
“We have players here who have won it and that shows it can be done.
“You look at the likes of Hibs, Inverness and St Johnstone, who are relatively recent winners. They were really good, consistent sides.
“When I was at Hibs, it (the cup hoodoo) was mental – the biggest thing ever.
“That club deserved to win it. Now you can say this club deserves it but we need to be going on runs – knocking on the door.
“Dave Mackay (Dens coach and winning Saints captain) played in Dundee’s last cup final against Rangers in 2003 and by all accounts they still look back on that and say they should have won it. I recall that Barry Smith hit the post that day.
“In my six years here, though, we haven’t really been on a decent cup run. You need to be lucky with the draw and things to go in your favour.
“What other teams have shown is that it can be done but you need to be right at it, especially when Premiership teams come to your ground,” added McPake.
“You have to be at the top of your game.
“Even if Motherwell are at the top of their game on Saturday, we believe that if we are at the top of our game then it can be a really good contest.
“If we are not, though, and they are then the outcome will be similar to what happened against Inverness in our last league game (they lost 2-0 at Dens).
“We need to make sure we are right. We are a decent team when we are right.
“The cup can really spark up a club and what you don’t want is for it to be one game and then you are out.
“This is a chance to test ourselves against a team that is third in the league above us. We need to make the most of it.”
McPake, while not a Hibs fan, revealed he did celebrate his former club’s memorable victory over Rangers in style.
He explained: “I was so delighted when they won it.
“I didn’t go to that final, though. I watched it in the house in case they got beat again.
“I’m not a Hibs fan but I loved my time at that club and had pals playing in that game who had been with me on our Scottish Cup runs.
“There were two in particular – Lewis Stevenson and Paul Hanlon – so to see them lift the cup was great.
“We had a garden party to celebrate and I think Sunshine on Leith (the Proclaimers’ song that is Hibs’ anthem) was playing in the background.
“It was a good day.”
