Dundee boss Neil McCann insists his side have earned the right to have a crack at all-conquering Celtic in the Betfred Cup.
The Dark Blues were drawn out of the hat to face the Hoops in the quarter-finals after winning last night’s derby with Dundee United at Dens.
Dundee made it through thanks to goals by Faissal El Bakhtaoui and Paul McGowan with Billy King netting for United.
However, before the plum tie with Celtic next month, McCann is looking for his players to reproduce the level of performance they showed against the Tangerines when they travel to face Hamilton on Premiership business on Saturday.
The delighted manager said: “I’m so happy they managed to produce that kind of display. I asked for intensity.
“I told them it wasn’t any normal game and they met the occasion head on.
“All round it was magnificent and we were on the front foot the whole game
“I challenged them at half-time to start the second half like they started the first. I thought they were brilliant.
“I’m delighted for Faissal because having brought him to Dunfermline I’ve seen him grow in terms of his football knowledge and he’s still learning.
“I wanted to fire him up and not have him worrying about coming to feet. He’s got such a feathery touch when he gets in good positions.
“He’s so fleet-footed he can stretch defences. He’s got thunder in his boot. He played Futsal with a denser ball and has no backlift.
“He scored one like that against Buckie and I want to keep encouraging him.
“It was an unbelievable finish and Gowser’s was a fantastic move.
“I wished there was a camera on me, I had a feeling and I was away. If it hadn’t gone in I’d have had egg on my face.”
McCann added: “The draw is great financially and we might get TV back here. It’s probably the draw everyone usually wants to avoid.
“They’re the best team in the country and have deserved that but having it at Dens has given us a better chance.
“We’ve got them at home. Honestly if you want to win the cup you probably face them at some point.
“We’ve earned the right to look forward to a draw like that with tonight.
“It’s so far in the future we need to gear up our league campaign.
“I want the boys to believe they can go and challenge and be really competitive and have good cup runs.
“We’ll have to come up with a game-plan to give to the players for Celtic but I want them to grasp things, that you don’t want a mediocre season.
“We want to challenge, if you don’t have those aspirations you’ll come up short.
“Enjoy tonight and look forward to Celtic but we’ve got big business at Hamilton.”
