James McPake insists there is “loads more to come” from his Dundee side after they continued their good pre-season form with a 3-0 win over Leyton Orient.
A first half strike from Paul McGowan was added to by Alex Jakubiak and Lee Ashcroft in the second period on a comfortable night for the Dark Blues.
That made it two 3-0 victories to kick off pre-season before they complete their warm-up action against West Ham on Friday.
And McPake is pleased to see his side continue the impressive form that saw them win promotion to the Premiership last season.
More importantly though for the Dens boss, he has no real injury issues to deal with ahead of the Premier Sports Cup next week.
Jason Cummings returned to training on Monday after his positive Covid-19 test while Danny Mullen was kept out of action against Orient as a precaution.
With that in mind McPake predicts even better to come from the Dark Blues.
“There is loads more to come,” he said.
“We are still working hard and will continue to.
🎥 | Paul McGowan's opener #thedee pic.twitter.com/1GsU1enRxD
— Dundee Football Club (@DundeeFC) July 6, 2021
“The players have covered a lot of kilometres over the past couple of weeks but injury-wise we are ok.
“Jason Cummings has been out but is back and worked with (trialist) Cillian Sheridan before the game.
“We got another 70 minutes into Alex Jakubiak which is excellent. We left Danny Mullen out as a precaution but he’ll hopefully feature on Friday.
“Fin Robertson got another 80 minutes and all that is important, particularly for the ones who have been out.
“There is loads more to come from that team. At the moment, we can pick two different teams for any game but it doesn’t matter because the players are doing everything we are asking them to.”
How the game unfolded
In front of 500 home fans, the Dark Blues began the match on the front foot with striker Jakubiak firing over within the opening seconds.
He would turn provider after five minutes as he nicked possession from the Orient defence 25 yards out with the ball falling to McGowan.
And the experienced midfielder made no mistake as he curled into the top corner.
Dundee controlled much of the remainder of the half, going close through Jakubiak as he saw an effort deflected onto the bar after going round the goalkeeper.
Their English League Two opponents had moments of their own, most notably when Paul Smyth raced through but fired wide.
The hosts may have started the first half quickly but they outdid that after the restart.
Within seconds of replacing Cammy Kerr at left-back at half-time, Jordan Marshall played a wonderful low cross for Jakubiak to knock in his first Dundee goal.
And on 48 minutes it was 3-0. Orient failed to clear a corner kick and Charlie Adam swung the ball back into the middle for Ashcroft to side-foot into the net.
Kenny Jackett’s side wanted offside but no decision was forthcoming.
Orient thought they had grabbed one back when Aaron Drinan, formerly of Ayr United, fired goalwards to beat Adam Legzdins in the Dundee goal.
However, Ashcroft was there to clear in bizarre fashion, heading the ball off the inside of his own post and out to safety.
A host of changes ensued from both teams as Dundee took another look at Luton Town defender Corey Panter, this time at centre-back.
‘Real belief’ from the players
McPake added: “It was a good performance and we got 70 minutes into most of them. We are building them up and are still training very hard.
“They are looking sharp, fit and strong. We start the competitive stuff next week so we need to be ready to go.
“I’m really pleased with the work that has gone in over the last two weeks.
“What’s pleasing is the chances we are creating and we can see the work transferring from training onto the pitch. That’s important.
“There is a buy-in from the players and a real belief that what we do can cause teams problems. We saw that against Leyton Orient.
“It was also great to have fans back again. It wasn’t quite as emotional as the Kilmarnock match in the play-off final which is understandable.
“But to get 500 in is great, for them to see some goals and new signings is fantastic.
“All in all, it was a good night’s work.”
Trialists
On Panter and two trialists Alex John and Morgan Clarke who played the final 10 minutes, McPake said: “Corey did well again.
“The other two are younger ones we are looking at for the development squad.”