Dundee midfielder Ryan Conroy admits boss Barry Smith was right to criticise their performance on Saturday and insists the Dark Blues will make amends to their supporters in Tuesday night’s game against Ayr United.
Smith pilloried his players for an insipid performance against Raith and Conroy concedes they must start doing better, especially as the issue of new contracts is on their minds.
It should have been so different.
After a minute’s appalause for legendary fan Wullie Reilly, whose funeral was held last week, Dundee started brightly. Carl Finnigan gave them the lead after just six minutes but they could not build on that early advantage and were pegged back when ex-Dundee United forward Damian Casalinuovo equalised just before the break.
With Ayr due at Dens, Conroy insists Dundee must get a victory to stop their season petering out to an unsatisfactory conclusion.
He said: ”It was disappointing to say the least. We started well but didn’t kick on from there. We didn’t get the ball down and play like we can so it wasn’t an acceptable performance. That’s two games in a row now so we’ve got to start doing better.
”The manager was on our back at the end of the game and rightly so. We don’t want the season to end as a damp squib. We owe it to the fans because we don’t want to leave them disappointed.
”Most of us are out of contract in the summer so we know we’re playing for our livelihoods. We need to be playing well to get a new deal for next season.
”The good thing is we have a game on Tuesday now so we can’t dwell on this for too long and it will give us a chance to make amends quickly.”
Raith were the better team in the second half so can feel slightly aggrieved they did not win the full quota of points.
Captain Grant Murray looked at the positives, however, and believes that more performances like this one will see them beat relegation.
He said: ”We are disappointed to only get a point. We went behind and made it tough for ourselves but we steadied ourselves.
”We settled down and got back into the game. That’s the kind of cool heads and character we’re going to need this season.
”It’s going to be tough in the next few weeks but we have confidence in ourselves.
”Losing an early goal to Dundee at Dens Park it would be easy to just crumble because they are a really good side.
”But we didn’t we showed composure and character. With the chances we created in the second half we could have won the game so that’s the positive we have to take.”
Raith boss McGlynn felt his team should have won but was happy with the performance. They are second-bottom, four points ahead of Queen of the South and two behind Ayr.
McGlynn said: ”We got off to a bad start with the early goal we lost but we battled back and I was pleased with the way we settled ourselves again.
”I felt in the second half we passed the ball really well and created a lot of chances. With a bit more luck we would have won the game.”
Smith was less happy with his players’ showing and pulled no punches in the aftermath but is backing them to bounce back against Ayr.
He said: ”That performance was unacceptable and I have told the players that. We can’t afford to just let the season peter out. The fans have stuck by the club brilliantly and it’s payback time now.
”The players know they have to produce better than that between now and the end of the season. I’m sure they will because they are a good bunch and this will just be a blip.”