Dundee’s Elliott Parish admits he and the rest of his team-mates will be gunning for revenge when they play St Johnstone at Dens this afternoon.
The big keeper – who has triggered a clause in his contract that means he will be with the Dark Blues again next season – is still hurting from the last game between the sides that Saints won 4-0.
And with Dundee now looking to secure their Premiership safety as soon as possible, Parish is doubly determined to take all three points today.
The 27-year-old said: “We are absolutely going for revenge.
“We don’t like losing let alone going down the way we did to St Johnstone last month.
“We don’t like that at all. We need the win but there’s a bit more added emphasis to it given they’ve come here not that long ago and done us 4-0.
“We were hurting for a few days after that.
“I will always give 100 per cent and so does every other player in that dressing-room.
“We don’t go down like we did that time on purpose.
“But we do owe the fans a performance and a result.
“It’s a derby and we want to give them something to sing about.
“We want three points to help make us mathematically safe. We certainly don’t want it lingering on.
“Our aim is to go and win these last five games and finish the season strongly to set us up nicely for next season.”
Parish is also set up nicely for the 2018/19 campaign. He admits he is loving life at Dens and Scottish football in general – and that’s even after suffering a broken nose in his side’s last game against Rangers at Ibrox when he was caught by the trailing boot of Alfredo Morelos.
Parish said: “There is something written into my contract about an extension depending on the number of games played.
“So I will be here next season. I’m really enjoying it here.
“I love it to be honest. Bobby Geddes is a great goalkeeping coach and the manager has been brilliant to me also.
“It’s a fantastic place to be around.”
Parish added: “I got a broken nose at Ibrox.
“It wasn’t great. It’s such an honest league up here in Scotland with a lot of physicality.
“In that case against Rangers, I think it was more a case of Morelos trying to win a penalty by leaving his foot in.
“He’s got my face in the end although not on purpose.
“A lot of strikers do go to ground easily these days but that’s for us keepers to get smarter as well but it is difficult.
“I didn’t need an operation. I just got into the treatment room and the doctor was brilliant by pushing it back together.
“It wasn’t anywhere near as painful as I thought it would be. So I was pleasantly surprised.”
