Mark O’Hara says life-long pal Daniel Higgins can handle the heat in Dundee relegation battle

[News Anchor]

Midfielder Mark O’Hara has tipped new team-mate Daniel Higgins to be a massive hit for Dundee — even in the powder keg of the relegation battle the Dark Blues find themselves in.

And while O’Hara admits to a more than a little bias when it comes to his life-long friend, he believes the final six games of the season can prove him right.

Higgins, a February signing after leaving Celtic around the turn of the year, marked his 19th birthday by making his debut in the 1-0 defeat at Hearts.

Despite the defeat and being moved back to centre-half from the midfield role he’s been used to in Development League fixtures, his first top-team display was top drawer.

That didn’t surprise O’Hara, who knows him better than anyone else at Dens Park.

“Daniel and I have known each other since we were toddlers because our mums are best friends,” he said.

“We’ve never been team-mates before now because he was at Celtic and I was at Kilmarnock but we were best mates growing up.

“I was delighted when he came here and he’s done well. It was his birthday on Saturday and I know he didn’t think that’s how he’d be spending it.

“But he’s a very confident player and a really chilled out boy. Nothing fazes him and he can rack up his games between now and the end of the season.

“He can handle the pressure and I know he’s capable of doing a very good job.”

Dundee’s Mark O’Hara has praised teammate Daniel Higgins

Higgins’ debut was one of the big pluses of Saturday’s game and, although it ended in a sixth consecutive defeat for Dundee, O’Hara believes there were other positives that suggest the team can avoid a relegation battle in the closing weeks of the campaign.

“With all respect to the other teams, I don’t think a game at Tynecastle is going to sum up the season. Hamilton on Saturday and the five games after the split will sum up our season.

“But, hopefully, we can take positives from Saturday.

“It was 1-0 and we didn’t create as much as we wanted to but we contained Hearts for most of the 90 minutes and I think we can take a lot from the game.

“Tynecastle is a very difficult place to go to. They are a very physical, direct side who also play a bit of nice football at times but I felt we more than matched them for a lot of the game.

“We need to take that into the Hamilton game because it’s the biggest of our season so far.

“We win it and we give ourselves a bit of freedom to go out and play in the games to come. Then we are only worrying about ourselves.”

And while he accepts the approach from now on has to be that every game will be a battle, a quick return to winning form can change that perception.

“Every game is a six-pointer between now and the end of the season but, if we win the next couple of games, we can give ourselves a bit of breathing space.

“If we do, we can then be targeting seventh place because that’s the highest we can finish now.

“It would mean we could concentrate on playing the football we know we’re capable of.

“That’s what we want to do and as early as possible, so we need to be targeting those wins.

“For a while there we showed what we are capable of but then we had some bad results — from some very difficult fixtures it has to be said but the fact is we are where we are.

“But a couple of wins in this league and you can jump right up the table and get to safety quickly.

“That’s our aim.”

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