James McPake watched his Dundee stars survive a scare last night as they went down to Raith Rovers at Dens Park – but still insisted they’re on course to clinch a dream Premiership return.

McPake’s promotion hopefuls had put themselves in pole position thanks to their comprehensive 3-0 win in Wednesday’s first leg of this Premiership play-off semi-final.

But the Dark Blues couldn’t hit those heights again and failed to sparkle in this televised televised clash which Raith won courtesy of Lewis Vaughan’s stunning 21st minute strike.

John McGlynn’s visitors merited their first-half but let the below-par Taysider’s off the hook by not making more of their outfield superiority on the night.

Dundee are now gearing up to face either Kilmarnock or Ross County in the Premiership play-off final next week, with the first leg at home on Thursday followed by the return next Monday in their quest to secure a dream return to the top-flight.

And manager McPake said: “I would have been fuming if we hadn’t got through!

“ I’m delighted to get through it. It was a bit of a strange game and a tough game. 

“They went completely different and they were good. 

“I have huge respect for John McGlynn because I love the way his team plays and I’d love my team to play like it. 
“They came and gave us a bit of a fright but if someone said you’ll lose one and win one and get through to the final I’d have taken it. It did mean a lot because we were so desperate to get back into the Premiership.

“It wasn’t our best performance but it didn’t need to be. We just needed to find a way to get through the tie. 

“The tie effectively was won on Wednesday. We just had to do our job properly. 

“We wanted to go ten unbeaten but it’s irrelevant because we’re in the final and we’ll be watching who we could potentially play on Thursday.
“We knew they were going to come and throw everything at it. Over the two legs we were the better team and I thought we maybe had the better of the chances. This part of the job is done.”