Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Dundee boss James McPake reveals Charlie Adam tested positive for Covid-19 and lifts lid on chaotic build-up to Morton clash

Charlie Adam.
Charlie Adam.

James McPake has revealed the Covid-19 chaos that hit his Dundee side 24 hours ahead of their 2-2 draw at Greenock Morton.

The Dark Blues came from behind twice at Cappielow – with goals from Jason Cummings and Danny Mullen – to stop a run of straight defeats, though they remain without a win in four.

And they were without talisman Charlie Adam after he tested positive for coronavirus in the build-up to the contest.

There was also confusion over the availability of centre-back Liam Fontaine after he was initially told to self-isolate along with physio Gerry Docherty, while training on Friday was cancelled.

And McPake says it was a challenging time for everybody at the club.

“It was a tough 24 hours for us,” the Dens boss said.

Dundee manager James McPake at Cappielow.

“On Friday Liam Fontaine didn’t think he was playing. We lost one of our most influential players (Adam) through Covid and we have no physio so it’s been tough.

“On top of that we were told we couldn’t train on Friday.

“I’m not using that as an excuse for our performance because the three games we’ve gone to Cappielow, that’s probably the best we’ve handled them.

“Who knows if the preparation on Friday would have helped? What didn’t help was not knowing.

“I think it was 11am we got the OK that Fontaine could play and wasn’t a close contact.

“It was a challenging 24-and-a-bit hours.

As a manager, I’ve had defeats, heavy defeats, and there have been times going home and wondering if this is really for me.

“You watch the game four or five times to find the answer.

“The 28 hours or so before Saturday’s game was completely new to me. At 10 to 11 on Friday I still didn’t know my team. It’s certainly not been an easy time.

“We have to thank Morton for helping us because their physio covered us as well during the game.

“We also had a worry over Lee Ashcroft and it felt like Raith Rovers all over again.”

Blow to lose Charlie Adam

With fixtures piled up over the next few weeks thanks to a host of recent call-offs, Dundee will be without Adam for some key games.

Though he admits it was a blow to lose his captain, McPake is confident he has the squad to cope with the absence of the former Scotland midfielder.

“It was going to happen that we’d be without Charlie,” he added.

“The club have done everything right with the protections and we don’t know where Charlie picked it up.

“He was negative on Tuesday, then tested again Thursday for this Tuesday’s game and got the results on Friday morning and he was positive.

Dundee playmaker Charlie Adam.
Dundee playmaker Charlie Adam.

“We have been hit by Covid before but Friday was different. It was a real challenge and I think the group dealt with it pretty well even though we didn’t get the result we wanted.

“Charlie will be a miss but that’s football, we will have to live without him.

“He is a big influence on our team but we’ve got a big squad.”

‘Gutted we didn’t win’

As for the draw at Morton, McPake is disappointed by the concession of two more goals and coming away with just one point from Cappielow.

“I’m gutted we didn’t win with the chances we had,” he added.

“The first strike is a great goal, the second one was poor from us. You know what Morton will throw at you.

“I thought Lee Ashcroft in particular was outstanding in a game that was a throwback to being a proper centre-half. Liam Fontaine won a fair share as well.

“I think we dealt with most of what they threw at us but ultimately we came away with a point when we wanted three.

“We dug in and didn’t give up but we do need to stop conceding goals.

“We stopped the defeats first and foremost, fans don’t want to hear that but it’s important.

“Sometimes you are on a bad run but then you get that draw and then a run of wins.

“That’s what we need now.”