Paul McGinn admits that Dundee’s sweet start to the season has been soured by the desperately disappointing defeat on Tuesday night that saw his side crash out of the League Cup against Dunfermline.
The Dark Blues conceded an early goal at East End Park but equalised just after the break through Kane Hemmings.
However, Dundee were stunned by two late counters from the League One outfit, with McGinn admitting the result and performance were simply not acceptable.
He and the rest of the Dens squad are now determined to go into the international break by returning to winning ways against Inverness at home on Saturday.
He said: “We have had all the plaudits for looking like a good team because when we play well we can run over the top of sides.
“But we have to do the other side of the game much better.
“We need to find a way that when we’re not playing the free-flowing stuff, we can still win games.
“Tuesday was a really disappointing night the start we got off to was shocking.
“We were outfought and that’s not acceptable.
“They were picking up second balls and you can’t let a team do that at any level or they’ll dominate you.
“Dunfermline could have had a few goals early on and we’d been warned about them. We started so slowly.
“The Dunfermline result has put a sour note onto our start to the season.
“It was a really sore one, a kick in the teeth.
“It has taken our start from a good one to just an ordinary one.
“Saturday becomes a big one now because there’s an international break and you don’t want to go into that on the back of defeats.
“It’s a horrible two weeks if that’s the case so we have to get back on track.”
McGinn also acknowledged that Dundee that yet to produce a 90-minute performance in their matches so far this season.
He added: “There has been a pattern in games where we’ve had a great spell but then given away daft goals.
“If we hadn’t got the goal late on against Dundee United we would have been punished again for losing sloppy goals.
“We need to sharpen up and sharpen up fast.
“We have been hitting lulls in games and we need to get rid of that.
“In the Dunfermline game it came at the start, whereas in other matches it has been later.
“We need to play well for 90 minutes.”