If Dens boss Jim McIntyre is correct with his assessment of how the season’s finale will shape up, then Dundee fans should strap themselves in for a nerve-racking rollercoaster ride.
The Dark Blues are locked in a three-way Premiership relegation battle with St Mirren and Hamilton, with the Buddies now just one point behind second bottom Dundee following their win over Livingston at the weekend while Accies are three ahead after they beat Aberdeen at Pittodrie last Wednesday.
At the same time as Brian Rice’s side were pulling off their shock result in the Granite City, McIntyre’s men were losing 4-0 at Ibrox to Rangers.
However, as Dundee gear up to face Hearts this weekend at Dens, the manager is determined his players will continue to concentrate on what they are doing and not on what is happening elsewhere.
He commented: “I have said from day one there will be ups and downs, there will be a lot of trading places between the three teams at the bottom.
“Fair play to Hamilton and St Mirren, they both got very good results in their last games.
“It will be up and down over the next few weeks, there’s no point worrying about it.
“We had a poor result against Rangers but it’s gone now, we move on and you can only affect yourself.
“What the other teams do isn’t something we can control so the only thing we can do is look to improve against Hearts this weekend.
“We have to learn from the mistakes and be better.
“And if we can get a decent result this weekend we won’t get carried away with it because this league has a habit of coming back to bite you.
“We are the only ones who can affect our own situation – we have to do it for ourselves.”
Prior to the Rangers defeat, Dundee also lost 4-2 to Hibs at home.
However, McIntyre was still able to take positives despite the results.
He added: “I have been pleased with the reactions we have shown lately – we didn’t feel sorry for ourselves in the games against Rangers and Hibs.
“That’s what I look for, that level of commitment and the desire to keep going.
“That sort of attitude will help us.”
McIntyre also admitted that something else which would help Dundee’s cause is eliminating the errors that are currently costing them dear at both ends of the pitch.
He added: “We need to stop making individual mistakes because at this level when you make errors teams punish you.
“We have to cut them out and get back to being more ruthless in our decision making in the other box.
“Hearts will test us. We got a very good result against them the last time.
“They have strength, pace and goals in their team. They have had a sticky patch but they’ve come through it and are back to winning games again.
“So it’s going to be difficult, but I always feel we have the chance to win games.”
