 Dundee salute their 2,000 followers in Italy |
Dundee manager Jim Duffy was adamant that his players had missed an opportunity to cause an upset in Italy after his side were dumped out of the Uefa Cup by Perugia. The Serie A side were 1-0 winners on their home ground after stealing a 2-1 win on Tayside three weeks ago.
But Duffy was upset that his team had not done themselves justice in the Renatu Curi stadium.
"In the first half we were very flat for some reason and that was disappointing because I thought the game was there for us," Duffy told BBC Sport.
"I don't think either team was at their best.
"We never looked like doing any damage going forward. "In the second half we were a little better but we continued to lack that little bit of spark in the final third - and that's not good enough at the top level.
"We weren't at our best and to win matches against top class teams everyone needs to be at the top of their game.
"Maybe the players didn't believe they could win but we certainly didn't play anywhere near as well as we can.
"And it's frustrating because I thought they (Perugia) weren't as good as they were at Dens Park.
"I said at half time that it looked like we were content to hold on for a respectable draw but if we could have raised our game by 20% we could have pressed a few panic buttons and you never know...
"Hopefully, the game will stand the players in good stead and you expect them to learn from experiences like this."
Duffy was also concerned by muscle injuries picked up by central defenders Lee Wilkie and Lee Mair.
With fellow defenders Brent Sancho and Tom Hutchison on the sidelines at the moment, Dundee can ill-afford to lose any more players.
MMIX
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 