Dundee 'looked tired' in 11th game before league start

Steven Pressley said his Dundee team looked "a little bit tired" and "a little bit laboured" despite scoring four times to beat lower-league Clyde.

The Premiership club were goalless at half-time at Dens Park but managed to break the visitors down after the interval to progress from the League Cup groups.

Despite league action not starting until next weekend, Pressley referenced that Saturday's match was Dundee's 11th game of the campaign, including friendlies and the four League Cup group fixtures.

"I thought we looked a little bit tired, a little bit laboured in our performance," the head coach told BBC Scotland.

"This was our 11th game since returning back for pre-season and we've been quite reliant on a lot of the same players, although we've tried to rotate the group, we haven't got the biggest of groups.

"There were some tired legs out there. Our intention has always been to be off Sunday, Monday of this week, with the game being the following Monday.

"It's much needed. Not only the players, but I think some of the staff are really tired. It's been quite an intense period for us."

Dundee's next action is their first Premiership fixture of the season at the home of defending champions Celtic on Monday, 3 August (19:30 BST).

And Pressley has backed his players to be primed for the challenge that awaits them in a daunting league opener.

"All our games were very competitive against Celtic last year," he added. "I've already told the players the challenge in hand.

"Celtic haven't lost, I don't think, an opening day home game for 76 years, so that in itself tells you the challenge ahead.

"But we like a challenge. We need to do a lot better than we did today if we're going to get the result, but we'll work hard this week and hopefully we can go there and perform in the manner that I believe we can."