Hamilton: ‘I don’t think we fear anyone’ Pars man anticipates a close test when Dundee United come to East End

up to fourth in the table.

They are, however, 14 points behind a United side that are the division’s only unbeaten side, and who are four points clear at the top in their bid to bounce straight back to the Premiership.

The Pars came as close as anybody has so far to inflicting a Championship defeat on the Tangerines in August when Mathew Cudjoe’s stoppage-time strike cancelled out Craig Wighton’s opener to ensure the points were shared at Tannadice.

Hamilton, who starred in that game, and wore the captain’s armband last week in the absence of Kyle Benedictus, believes they can take belief from their last meeting with United when they take to the field at East End.

“I don’t think we fear anyone. I don’t think we’re a team that fears anyone,” he told Press Sport.

“We’re confident in our abilities, our own players, and the way that the manager will set us up.

“We’ll be confident going into the game but, like I say, we know what to expect.

“They’re a team full of confidence, who are doing well, so it’ll be a big crowd, it’s on TV again, so it’ll be a good one. It’s one to look forward to.

“We know what to expect. They’re flying and on a good run of form just now, but I believe in this group. I always have belief in this group. Even when we were going through the bad few weeks, we’ve got a lot in there.

“You saw the quality with Moff (at Morton) and we’ve got boys coming back. The squad’s getting stronger, so I believe we can go and put a performance on and get a positive result.”

Pars boss McPake has consistently said that if his players produce the level of performance that they are capable of, then that will bring results with it.

“That’s what we focus on,” Hamilton continued.

“Sometimes you can’t affect the result; you play as well as you can, and then you get beat 1-0.

“That happens, but you focus on the result. Nine times out of 10, if the performance is as good as it can be, then the results will come.

“Obviously, every team wants to play their best football and win 3-0, but that’s not going to happen every week, especially in this league.

“You’ve got to find ways to win and we’ve maybe not done that in * the last few weeks, so, against Morton, it was about winning the game. There’s no point in coming here, putting on a good performance and getting beat 1-0.

“It’s a big win for us, especially after the few weeks we’ve had. We’ll take it, but we need to now kick on and keep improving.”