Lyall Cameron insists doing his part to keep Dundee in the Premiership is his main focus ahead of his summer move to Rangers.
The Dundee star impressed against city rivals United at Tannadice in what could be his final chance in a derby.
With the clubs currently on opposite sides of the Premiership split – and Cameron departing Dens Park for Rangers in the summer – Sunday’s clash may well be his last opportunity.
He thought he’d notched a goal to remember, finishing off from close range early on, only to be denied by a marginal VAR offside.
But more important was Dundee’s victory – a win Cameron and his team-mates are determined to ensure reignites their campaign.
“It felt good at the time. I’ve been dreaming about scoring in a derby for a long time, so I’m absolutely devastated, to be totally honest,” Cameron exclusively told Courier Sport.
“I’d love to have scored but at the end of the day, three points is more important.
“Obviously we were delighted after the performance. The first half was unbelievable.
“We could have been 5-1 up in the first half with the VAR goals so tight.
“We were frustrated about that because we could have been out of sight.
“But we showed a lot of character in the second half. That’s been questioned over the past couple of months because we’ve not been the way we can be.
“But we showed at Tannadice the group of boys we are and how we can fight and get results.
“United have had a really good season but we completely overran them in the first half, so we’re happy with that.”
Criticism from Dundee fans
Cameron has been a lightning rod for criticism from some Dundee fans during their poor recent run.
The team had dropped into the relegation play-off spot after a dreadful run of form.
Cameron, too, had been under-par by his own high standards, and admits it’s been a difficult period.
He said: “[Winning] has been a long time coming and we’ve obviously had a really poor couple of months.
“I think people don’t understand the effects it has on your everyday life.
“It doesn’t matter what’s happening, if you’re on loan or if you’re leaving at the end of the season, no one wants to be in this situation.
“No one likes losing games.
“Now we have a two-week break, if we’d lost that derby, we’re looking over our shoulder again.
“But it’s just so good to go into training and the boys will all be positive and hopefully we can take it on to the next few games.”
The next game is Rangers at Dens Park next weekend.
it’s a big game for everyone, but has added significance for Cameron.
In January, it was announced the Scotland U/21 star had signed a pre-contract deal at Ibrox and would join the Gers in the summer.
So how will he feel lining up against his future employers?
“I’ll just take it as it comes,” he said.
“Obviously, it’s going to be a different situation because it’s the club I’m moving to at the end of the season.
“So, I’ll just take it as it comes.
“My main focus right now is here and getting us out of this predicament that we’ve put ourselves in. That’s all I can do.
“That’s the most important thing for me just now. You need to look at every game as it comes.
“We feel like a lot of them are winnable.
“We feel like we’ve been underperforming in the last couple of weeks. We’ve just not been getting the rub of the green.
“Even on Sunday, when the two goals are called offside, we’re just not quite getting the luck. Tthankfully, we managed to hold on.
“Hopefully, that can turn things and with the boys coming back from injury, I’m confident we’ll have a good end to the season.”
Conversation