Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Dee have prove Killie was just a blip
DUNDEE’S defeat at Killie on Saturday shows just how much of a killer the Premiership is this season.
There can’t be many leagues in the world where before kicking a ball on a Saturday you can move up a place (due to Motherwell’s loss against Celtic) but then drop four spots with defeat.
That’s exactly what happened to Dundee and only serves as a reminder how important it could be to win games against those round about them.
Killie were no great shakes but in the predicament that five or six teams find themselves in, if every player isn’t quite at it then the possibility of losing is very high.
It should just be a blip in performance, given the good run Dundee were on, but with a difficult festive fixture list coming up the loss to Killie makes Ross County a bigger game than it should be.
It is easy to look further ahead at the matches coming up but the players’ only focus must be on winning their next home game against County.
The Celtic fixture the following week will take care of itself as no one will expect Dundee to take anything from that game given the Hoops’ dominance in the league.
If the Dark Blues can win against Ross County, it could give them a bit of breathing space as they head to Celtic Park.
A loss at home will have the scaremongers out again, putting more pressure on the players which, in turn, can lead to a nervousness on the pitch which hasn’t been seen in recent weeks.
Dundee showed a lot of resilience in coming out of the rut they were in prior to the three wins in four games and they will need to show it once more to prove the performance at Rugby Park was a one-off.
Nothing will be decided over Christmas in terms of who will be relegated but a couple of good results could push the Dee to a more favourable position in the league.
Ross County at home is a tricky game to start with but, after winning the last two games in front of their own fans, it should be three points on board.
That’s if the boys respond in the manner they would be expected to by Paul Hartley and get back to the fighting, high-tempo game that brought them success in their wins against Hamilton, Motherwell and Caley Thistle.