Soccer
Steven Pressley admits Dundee draw with St Johnstone a fair result
Steven Pressley admitted he believed a draw was a true reflection of the game between Dundee and St Johnstone at Dens Park.
Charlie Reilly looked like he had snatched a late win for the home side but Josh Fowler netted in the 90th minute to secure a point for the visitors.
However, Dark Blues boss Pressley was disappointed that his side had not held on to take all three points.
Pressley said: “St Johnstone had the greater percentage of possession. I thought that we had the bigger chances within the game.
“Overall, the draw was a true reflection of the game.
“But obviously, after scoring so late on, we hoped we’d see the game out.
“I was happy with some aspects of the performance but there was a recurring theme from the last couple of games.
“We need to improve in possession. We need to have more sustained periods controlling the game. We surrendered possession too often.
“We are a danger on the counter-attack but we also have got to get a little bit better on controlling games and sustaining the pressure.
“At home, we obviously always want to win games of football. You never know in football just how important that point would be.
“We always respond positively to setbacks like the one at the weekend.
“But we’re disappointed when we took the lead not to see the game through.”
Pressley acknowledged there has been interest in Dundee skipper Ethan Hamilton with the midfielder understood to be on the radar of several clubs including Aberdeen but the head coach insisted he is going nowhere.
Pressley confirmed the interest in Hamilton, saying: “Yes, there has been. There’s been interest in a number of our players.
“You just can’t replace a player of his quality and style. So, we turned that down.
“There’s other interest in other players, but at this moment in time we have no intention of selling.”
St Johnstone boss Simo Valakari paid tribute to the character shown by his players after coming back to draw late on.
Valakari said: “We had lost two matches and some moments of those two matches we have performed very, very well.
“So to come here and to play as we did tonight, I am very pleased for our players.
“They showed the character to play in this pressure environment in a local derby against a good opponent.
“We are a little bit different to how we were last year but I know the players never ever give up.
“They pushed until the end and we deservedly got our goal.
“We will take that one point in an away match and now we will recover.”
