Jon McCracken relishing clean slate after winning back place at Dundee

Dundee goalkeeper Jon McCracken is relishing his fresh start after being restored to first-choice goalkeeper by Steven Pressley.

The 25-year-old only made four appearances in the final five months of last season after losing his place to Trevor Carson.

However, McCracken was restored after opening Premier Sports Cup defeats by Alloa and Airdrie after Pressley replaced Tony Docherty in the summer.

The former Hamilton and Norwich player said: “It was a clean slate for everyone and I was grateful for the manager giving me the gloves.

“Last year was tough, in and out, and the league goalkeeper, cup goalkeeper situation, it was the first time I had ever been in that situation. So I think I learned a lot from that and how to deal with that. But I try not to dwell too much on last season.

“It’s a bit of relief because you come into the season not knowing too much about the manager and what he thinks about you because you’re not the manager’s signing, none of us were in the goalkeeping department.

“It was a bit of a relief and, once that’s off your shoulders, you can just let your football do the talking. When you’re playing with freedom, it’s a lot easier.

“I’m relishing the fresh start and quite happy with how it’s going.”

Pressley faced pressure from fans after following the Premier Sports Cup exit with an opening league defeat by Hibernian but McCracken never panicked.

Dundee drew with Rangers last time out and are looking for their first William Hill Premiership win under Pressley when they travel to Kilmarnock on Saturday.

“It was a good result against Rangers so we are quietly confident in here,” McCracken said.

“I compare it to the first year I was up here. We got knocked out of the League Cup in the group stage and played Motherwell and St Mirren and got a point out of those two games.

“It’s the same situation we are in this year and we still finished top six that year.

“It’s important not to over-react. Obviously the League Cup group stage never went to plan and we should be beating Alloa and Airdrie but it sort of came a bit quick for us in the redevelopment of the team.

“It’s important not to listen to too much noise that happens outside. We are quietly confident in here. We like what we’re doing. You can see every day we are developing more and more and more bodies are coming in now. I think we’re in a really good place.”

Meanwhile, Dundee announced that Victor Lopez has left the club after they agreed with Queretaro to cut short a season-loan. The 22-year-old Mexican has not featured since playing against Airdrie and Alloa.