DUNDEE boss Neil McCann last night vowed to fight his Scottish Football Association charge in the wake of last weekend’s Dens Park mayhem.

McCann will appear in person at Hampden on March 29 for the hearing following his touchline spat with St Johnstone goalkeeper Zander Clark. Television footage appeared to show McCann striking Clark on the face.

McCann insisted he was provoked by Clark by claiming he refused to take his arm off him as tempers raged upon after Dundee’s dismal 4-0 defeat.

And McCann, who takes his side to Pittodrie for today’s crunch clash with Aberdeen, has reiterated his innocence and vowed to contest the charge of “excessive misconduct.”

McCann said: “I can’t say too much about it because obviously I’ve got a date at Hampden.

“What I will say is that I believe Tommy Wright, personally, has put in a complaint against me for the incident at the weekend.

“I’d imagine that complaint will be that I’ve put my hands on his goalkeeper.

“What I’m prepared to say is that everybody who watches the footage will see who makes the initial physical contact. I think that’s quite clear.

“That’s all I’m prepared to say at the moment.

“It’s the exact same as I said after the game. I’ve shook hands, I’m trying to leave the technical area and I’m not allowed to do so.

“I can confirm that I’ll be at Hampden to state my case. I’ll be there in person and won’t send anyone there on my behalf.”

McCann slaughtered his side following their weak surrender at the hands of Saints which prompted him to scrap their day off 24 hours later, but believes they’re ready to make amends in the Granite City this afternoon.

He added: “I’ve not retracted a word of what I said after the game. I think it was fully merited.

“I apologised to the fans. I think I said that I was embarrassed by the performance and the players share that as well. I know they share it.

“It was a shocking performance –probably our worst by quite a distance. It was a sore one to take.

“But I’m not going to go on about it. Last week’s game has gone. We’re looking forward to Aberdeen now. We’ve had an extended week because I had them in on Sunday.

“It’s been quite intensive. Things that I felt needed addressed have all been done this week. I can sense that they want to put it right and I’m looking forward to seeing if they can do it.

“In strong dressing rooms you get a reaction from within.

“I’ve got a dressing room that is capable of getting results and performances. It’s up to them to put it right.”

Midfielder Glen Kamara is set to return today after suspension ruled him out of their Saints horror show.

Striker Craig Wighton returns to the squad after his long lay-off following knee surgeryin the summer, but Lewis Spence is out injured.

Aberdeen might be trailing second-placed Rangers and have Hibernian snapping at their heels, but Derek McInnes is still aiming to finish runners-up for the fourth successive season.

And reaching the Scottish Cup semi-final, where they play Motherwell next month, will boost that goal he believes.

“It’s no mean feat for us to be second or third in the Premiership,” he said. “We have to work hard to get there and hopefully we can meet that objective again.

“Celtic and Rangers are huge favourites to finish in first and second place and I do think given the differences in finances they should be occupied by them.

“But we are proud of the fact that we have been second in the last few years even though ideally we would like to finish first.

“So we’ll fight tooth and nail to try to make sure that we do that again this season by using the impetus of the cup run to drive us on.”

He accepted his team’s failure to score in the last four league fixtures is an issue, though he pointed to good overall defensive play in midweek and in the goalless draw at Partick Thistle a week ago.

“It’s harder for the attackers who run at speed to be creative on poor surfaces,” he said, “but I think we are capable of offering more in the final third as a team.”