Jim McIntyre admits Dundee have to show an immediate improvement at both ends if they are to succeed in their battle to beat relegation.
Misses at one end and mistakes at the other proved crucial as the Dark Blues went down 2-0 to St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park last night.
First Ethan Robson could not convert a Kenny Miller set up in the first half and just seconds later poor defending saw the home team take the lead.
Robson squandered an even better opportunity early in the second half and when Matty Kennedy breezed into the penalty box to grab the home side’s second on 60 minutes, Dundee were condemned to a sixth straight defeat.
It leaves them rooted to the bottom of the Premiership with the only consolation being fellow strugglers St Mirren and Hamilton also both lost, against Celtic and Livingston respectively.
“Right now we’re not getting both sides right. We need to be better in both boxes,” admitted Jim.
“We created chances but couldn’t take them. They showed a ruthlessness to their play and we didn’t.”
Jim did at least feel he got a reaction from his men following the disappointing weekend defeat at St Mirren that saw them fall to the bottom of the table.
And even if it wasn’t enough to avoid another damaging defeat, it gave him some encouragement.
“We wanted to show a reaction and I felt we did that in terms of how we approached the game.
“But for the first there was a simple cross to the back post and Hors (James Horsfield) switched off. When we are on a run like this things like that can kill the confidence.
“The players kept at it second half and we got a brilliant chance through Robson. He knows he should score – it was one of the better moves. Then we lost another goal and were up against it.
“I can’t fault the players’ effort and endeavour but the quality to put the ball in the net and keep it out the net is where we’ve let ourselves down and it’s sore.
“I’ve still got faith in them and we’ve not lost any ground. I’ve said all along the five after the split will be huge.”
Before those games, Aberdeen visit on Saturday but with St Mirren and Accies playing each other another defeat could be even more costly.
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