Faissal El Bakhtaoui is determined to prove he is a Premiership class striker – even though the former Dunfermline man blew his chance to become an instant Dundee hero.
The 24-year-old bypassed the second tier of Scottish football and went from League One with the Pars last season to the top flight with Dundee this campaign.
He only has one goal to his name in the dark blue of Dundee so far, but glory beckoned in the dying moments of the game against Celtic at the weekend.
On the pitch as a substitute for around 30 seconds, El Bakhtaoui broke through the heart of the home defence and, with only Craig Gordon to beat, he failed to show the composure the situation demanded and skied his effort over the top.
Time will tell if that was his sliding doors moment for Dundee but the Moroccan is confident that he can still show that he has what it takes to be a Dens Park success.
“I really should have scored that chance but sometimes that happens in football,” he said.
“It all happened so quickly.
“One minute I was on the bench and then the manager put me on.
“We had been pushing Celtic and then the chance came.
“I won’t miss it next time.
“I was just thinking I should finish it but it didn’t happen.
“I can’t dwell on it. I need to move on. The manager and the boys were good with me in the dressing room afterwards.
“They said I’ve done well and I need to move on.”
El Bakhtaoui insists that he will learn and grow from his weekend disappointment.
“I need to take those chances if I want to stay in the team,” he said.
“I need to work on my finishing.
“It is a big difference from League One.
“But, I need to keep improving. It is much tougher but I’m sure the goals will come.
“I want to play more and show the manager I should be in the team and that I can play at this level.
“When I was at Dunfermline I didn’t score every week. As a striker you always have to look forward to your next game.”
El Bakhtaoui was a spectator for the vast majority of the match and he felt that Dundee’s fight-back from 2-0 down, and their late pressure, merited some reward.
“We should have at least drawn the match,” he said.
“It was a good performance but it was a tough result to take.”
Deserving a point might be stretching it a bit but there’s no doubt that Dundee gave Celtic a fright that few would have seen coming – not before the game and certainly not when they were 2-0 up.
After a first half of controlling the ball for the most part, the hosts had to wait until injury time before Leigh Griffiths gave them the lead with a 25-yard free-kick.
Scott Bain might have been guilty of edging too far to his right and leaving Griffiths too much space on the wall-side of the goal, but it was a typically sweet strike from the former Dundee man.
The keeper wouldn’t have been happy with the press from his defence which wasn’t quick enough to prevent Nir Bitton doubling the lead when a cross was half-cleared to the edge of the box.
There was still well over half-an-hour to go at that stage and the smart money would have been on a four or five goal win rather than a nervy finish for Brendan Rodgers’ men.
But, after Marcus Haber hit the woodwork with a header and Craig Wighton saw the rebound cleared off the line, the Canadian beat Gordon with a deflected shot and Celtic started to invite pressure on themselves with inaccurate passing from the back.
The culmination of that was El Bakhtaoui’s late miss.
Manager Paul Hartley admitted he thought the score was about to be 2-2.
“When you see him going through in the last couple of minutes you think he is going to hit the back of the net and he is disappointed in there,” the Dark Blues’ boss said.
“I felt overall we had a good game plan and they didn’t cut us open or get behind us too much.”
Hartley didn’t believe the Darren O’Dea foul that led to the free-kick opener should have been awarded.
“I felt it was a good tackle,” he said. “Players can’t tackle nowadays without free-kicks against them.”
There was a rare start for former Dundee United man Gary Mackay-Steven, while another Tannadice old boy, Stuart Armstrong, skippered the Hoops.
Mackay-Steven said: “I’m absolutely delighted for him it’s a massive honour for him to captain the side in Broony’s absence. He’s done superbly lately. He relished it and I felt he led the team really well.
“He was patient earlier on in the season and when he got his chance he took it and in the last few games he’s been amazing of us. He’s chipped in with goals and assists and he’s probably been one of our best players.
“He is a leader, definitely. He’s quite vocal and he’s definitely a future captain. Obviously Broony has been immense this season and it’s unbelievable to play under him but when he wasn’t available Stu stepped up and in the future he’s definitely captain material.”
