Embattled Dundee boss Mark McGhee bristles at questioning over Charlie Adam decision against Aberdeen

Mark McGhee bristled while being questioned about his decision to substitute skipper Charlie Adam just six minutes into the second half of Dundee's 1-0 defeat to Aberdeen at Pittodrie.

Dundee manager Mark McGhee during a cinch Premiership match against Aberdeen.

The manager was irritated at being probed about replacing Adam when the score was 0-0 and after Dundee had been on top for large parts of the first half. Adam led the team back out after the interval but was replaced by 19-year-old midfielder Josh Mulligan after 51 minutes. Adam was clearly unhappy and ignored McGhee as he took his place on the bench.

Dundee went on to lose the match 1-0 after Lewis Ferguson scored a 73 rd minute penalty to place the Dens Park side in further peril at the bottom of the league. They remain five points adrift of St Johnstone with just three games left.

“That’s Charlie,” McGhee said, when asked about his skipper’s reaction. He explained that the 36-year-old wasn’t injured.

“Are you going to ask me about some of the other substitutions?” McGhee added. “Charlie is a player, that’s all he is – the same as all the rest. He is an important player for us and he does a fantastic job for us in all sorts of ways and we took him off today for our reasons.”

He pretended not to hear another question about Adam. “Did someone say something there? I am not talking about Charlie. I’ve said that already.”

McGhee hailed his side’s display on an afternoon when they failed to take advantage of St Johnstone’s 1-0 defeat to St Mirren. The manager is still awaiting his first victory 11 games into his reign.

“It’s the first time since I have been here that we have lost a match because we did not take chances,” he said. “That’s an improvement. I am delighted with the performance, absolutely thrilled, particularly obviously the first half. We did not take chances, you have to live with that. If you don’t take chances you are not going to win a game.”

McGhee still maintains Dundee can make the relegation play-off and avoid being demoted automatically. “I don’t know that it is any more difficult after this game," he said. "I believe if we win the three games we will be in the play-off.”