Cammy Kerr has urged Dundee to atone for failure to profit from slip-ups by their closest title rivals.
Leaders Queen’s Park dropped two points at home to Raith Rovers while the Dark Blues crashed to defeat at Cappielow on Friday night.
Ayr United completed a weekend of under-achievement by the Championship’s top three when losing to Partick Thistle at Somerset.
Gary Bowyer’s men didn’t concede a great deal of ground but the sense of frustration about what could have been irked Kerr.
And there’s renewed danger in behind them as the weekend’s big winners Thistle and Morton declared themselves in no mood to drift from the promotion picture.
🏆 The wonderfully unpredictable #CinchChamp
The top three all dropped points while Accies enjoyed a Highland fling pic.twitter.com/dvI9zEW7jH
— SPFL (@spfl) February 20, 2023
Kerr lamented: “It’s a missed opportunity, that’s exactly it. It was a chance where we could have gone clear at the top.
“Nobody has pulled away. Nobody is out of it. It’s been a game of cat and mouse and no team has really got in front or got themselves away from the pack.
“That’s due to inconsistencies all round. We need to make sure in these last 12 games we put a decent run together.
“There’s still going to be ups and downs, as has happened the whole season. But first we need to react from this performance and result.”
Dundee ‘gifted’ Morton goals
Dundee were slow starters against Morton, conceding the game’s only goal after six minutes.
Jack Baird’s header is the only goal scored in three meetings between the sides this season.
Morton posed persistent problems at set pieces, while Dundee once again lacked a final third threat.
Kerr said: “You know what type of game you’re in for at Morton and, as much as we had chances in the game, we gifted them a couple at set-plays which we knew they were dangerous from.
“If you give Morton those type of chances, they’re going to take them. I thought they were resolute in their performance and we couldn’t break them down – simple as that.
“We must understand you’ve got to play different ways against different teams, especially at Cappielow where they make it so hard and it’s a narrow pitch. It’s cliched to say they make it so difficult for you.
“But we need to roll our sleeves up and be ready for what they throw at us. You’ve got to be resolute, work hard and beat the man you’re up against. We didn’t do that. There were glimpses but not enough of them.
“We spoke about it in the dressing room afterwards – you can’t start games slowly. That wasn’t good enough.
“We can’t have eight or nine boys like that, maybe one or two. We got punished and rightly so. We need to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
Dundee now face back-to-back home games – Inverness on Saturday then Partick, under the caretaker guidance of Kris Doolan, three days later.
Kerr added: “We were bitterly disappointed at Morton because we wanted to pick momentum up and couldn’t.
“It’s important we get back to working hard on the training field and put those wrongs right.”
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