Joe Shaughnessy: Dundee FC need to prove we can stay up

The Courier

05-05-2025

Dundee have no 'divine right' to escape relegation admits skipper Joe Shaughnessy.
Motherwell's late winner at Dens Park on Saturday leaves the Dark Blues just two points ahead of Ross County in the relegation play-off place.
Their safety from bottom spot is not yet assured either, though it would require St Johnstone winning all three matches and the Dee losing all three of theirs.
Three games now to prove Dundee are good enough to remain at Premiership level.
'We just need to knuckle down. We need to work really hard for each other,' skipper Shaughnessy said.
'Like the performance at Tynecastle last week, like the performance against St Mirren a couple of weeks ago.
'We've got to really work hard for each other because there's not much time left to train and do anything new.
'You've been training all season and now you've got three games to go and prove that you deserve to play in this league next year.'
Dundee have developed a bad habit of letting leads in games slip from their fingers.
That happened again against the Steelmen where Antonio Portales's fine opening goal was overturned by a Tom Sparrow equaliser and stoppage time winner from Tawanda Maswanhise.
The final goal coming after Motherwell had been reduced to 10 men.
'We shouldn't have lost the game to 10 men,' Shaughnessy admitted.
'We kind of felt like we pushed on to get the winner which maybe left us a little bit open at the time.
'Looking back it's like, you know, do you hold on for it? Just take the point?
'But when they're down to 10 men and you're at home you really feel like you need to go and get the winner.
'We didn't really create anything of note even when they're down to 10 men.
'It's frustrating I guess when you go from last week defending well and then you lose a game like that.
'That's the frustrating thing, but it's probably been the story of the season.
'We've not seen games out enough.
'That pretty much sums up the season.'
It is a big reason why Dundee are still in relegation trouble with three matches of the season remaining.
And despite their quality going forward and the amount of goals scored, Shaughnessy admits they are not too good to go down.
'To be honest, the league table is usually exactly as it should be after 38 games,' he added.
'You could keep saying that all year, we shouldn't be here, we shouldn't be here, but we are.
'No one has a divine right to be staying in the league or not to be down in the bottom six.
'We're the squad, we're the players and we're there now.
'So it's not really any use us saying we shouldn't be here.
'I don't think we can say we're too good to be in this position because we're not.
'We are there and it's up to us to pull up our socks and get ourselves out of it.
'Everyone's got to decide. You've just got to put your bodies on the line now.
'It's a week to go, three games.
'There's only so much talking about it you can do.
'It's up to us to stand up and do the job.'