Sean Higgins insists being hammered by the SFL for going into administration isn’t Dundee’s biggest worry.
It’s being around for next season and beyond which is their number one concern.
The SFL are expected to hand the Dark Blues the kind of points penalty which will almost certainly consign them to relegation.
But after helping the stricken club to a come-from-behind draw against leaders Dunfermline on Saturday, Higgins revealed the main focus of the players is on turning in performances that secure some hope of remaining in the first division and encourage the supporters to continue with their efforts to help raise the £500,000 needed to stop the doors from closing.
“We’re just concentrating on playing and getting points on the board,” said Higgins.
“I’ve heard mention of a 20-point deduction which would be horrible.
“But that’s out of our hands. We just have to try and keep putting points on the board.
“If we get deducted 20 points it’ll be an uphill struggle to keep Dundee in the first division.
“But it’s not really about the club getting relegated. It’s about it surviving.
“The major issue is the financial situation and with the support of the fans who turned up in big numbers today hopefully we can stay alive.”
Dundee’s woes seem to have brought out the very best in what remains of the playing staff and a group of supporters who’ve been put through the wringer over the past seven years.Click here for more photos from the match.There was much to admire about the spirited nature of the players display, recovering from the hammer blow of conceding two first-half penalties to deservedly earn a point while the backing the fans gave them could hardly have been bettered.
Much less impressive was the showing of the table-topping Pars. To surrender a two-goal lead was reckless in the extreme, although given how poorly they played they may, come the end of the season, view Saturday’s return as a positive one.
They certainly didn’t deserve any more than a point.
“We chucked the win away,” sighed striker Pat Clarke.
“Between the way we’d played and the fact one of the pens looked soft we were fortunate to be two up at half-time.
“Dundee had looked hungrier than us and shown more grit.
“But we found ourselves at 2-0 when we hadn’t really got started.’Dug in'”We should have taken advantage of that. Instead we threw two points away which is really annoying. But fair play to Dundee for the way they dug in.”
For as irked as he was by the result, Clarke was able to put it in perspective.
Having by virtue of his transfer from Dens to Dunfermline in August narrowly avoided being thrown on the scrapheap himself he knows there’s far worse fates than being involved in a disappointing result.
“It’s terrible what’s happened here,” he said.
“The management have lost their jobs as have quite a few boys. It’s awful for the guys concerned. Like the rest of us they’ve bills to pay and wives and kids to support.
“I count my blessings I got out when I did.”
If the Dundee fans and players thought they were due a break after the events of the previous 10 days, then referee Dougie MacDonald disavowed them of that notion when he turned the game on its head with a ridiculous spot-kick award on 29 minutes, penalising Matt Lockwood for handball when Willie Gibson’s driven cross struck his arm.
Gibson comfortably tucked away the penalty.
Four minutes later and MacDonald who a few hundred yards away six days earlier had found himself in the eye of a storm after wrongly awarding Celtic a penalty at Tannadice then changing his mind ruled, correctly this time, that Lockwood had handled an Austin McCann delivery.
Gibson got lucky, his conversion finding its mark off the underside of the bar. That double blow could have broken Dundee’s resistance
But within two minutes of the second period getting under way the excellent Leigh Griffiths dragged them back into the game, capitalising on a Chris Higgins slip.
With 10 minutes remaining Higgins glanced a Griffiths cross beyond the reach of Chris Smith to ensure justice was done and encourage the big home support in a 5636 crowd.
“It was the ref’s call with the pens but we weren’t happy,” said the man who grabbed that equaliser.
“The second pen was a penalty but the first was really harsh.”
Boss Barry Smith hailed his side’s spirit.
“I was delighted with the character the boys showed. A lot of teams would have chucked it but I couldn’t have asked more from them than we got in the second-half,” he said.
Pars manager Jim McIntyre, whose side were deposed at the head of affairs by Raith as a consequence of the stalemate at Dens, admitted, “We didn’t start the first-half well and our second-half performance was flat.”Meanwhile, former Dundee FC owners Peter and Jimmy Marr the men who led the club into administration first time around are hoping to set up a business trust to raise £750,000 for the Dark Blues.Although neither man is looking to become hands on again at Dens both want to help secure a future for the stricken outfit.
They support the idea of the club being community owned but favour a model which includes businessmen rather than just supporters groups.