Buddies revival should not cause panic at Dens, insists Rab Douglas

Seeing themselves five points adrift at the bottom of the table on Saturday night would be a bit of a shock to the system for Dundee fans. But in the long-run, St Mirren defeating Hamilton at the weekend might not be a bad thing.

In the build-up to Dundee’s clash with St Mirren I said in the column that it looked like it was a two-way battle at the bottom.

Hamilton and Motherwell were a good bit clear and, although their form wasn’t great, it was a lot better than the two sides at the foot of the table. That has changed, though.

If St Mirren beat Accies on Saturday they will go above them.

Then, if Dundee can do the same at Dens, they would only be two points away from Martin Canning’s men.

It is ifs and buts but the point is that having three sides involved is a better scenario than two.

To think that second bottom is the best you can hope for at this time of year would be a pretty depressing scenario.

Going into the play-offs against a Championship side in form is not something you would look forward to.

Clearly, all Dundee can do is take care of their own results – and Saturday’s draw at Hibs was a really encouraging sign.

But Saints making it back to back wins shouldn’t cause panic at Dens.

“All Dundee can do is take care of their own results – and the draw at Hibs was encouraging

Neilson showing his quality Robbie Neilson and myself never crossed paths as players at Leicester and the same was the case with Scotland.

But even though I don’t know the man personally you can see that he is a quality manager.

Nobody can argue with the impact he has made at Tannadice.

Ross County are still the favourites to go up automatically but United are now serious title contenders.

If they can beat Ayr United tomorrow night, the momentum they have been building will grow even stronger.

Robbie has made United a much more solid-looking side and it didn’t take long for the fans to get behind him.

It’s probably a sign of how well they have done in the last few weeks that most people will be expecting the league leaders to lose. Don’t write off Ayr even if they do get beaten, though.

There are definite comparisons between the way they have maintained the feelgood factor after getting promoted from League One with the way Livingston did it.

And you can’t downplay the importance of Lawrence Shankland.

I would have been happy if Dundee had bought him in the summer but if they go back in for him in January it will cost them a whole lot more.

Lichties’ focus is league

Going out of the Scottish Cup was a big disappointment for Arbroath last weekend.

With the chances and possession we had, we should have won the game, plain and simple.

There was no doubt that we missed Gavin Swankie in midfield. He’s been rolling back the years and could easily still be playing at a higher level.

It’s the old saying about concentrating on the league for us now and we’ll be looking to bounce straight back by beating my old Dundee teammate Colin McMenamin’s Stenhousemuir side on Saturday.

Picture: SNS. Dundee’s Cammy Kerr holds off Hibernian’s Lewis Stevenson in last Saturday’s 2-2 draw at Easter Road.