Dee need to add mental toughness

A WEEK ago I was talking in terms of Dundee being able to spend the rest of the season looking up the way.

Assuming, of course, they did what they should and took care of business when basement club Ross County came to Dens Park on Saturday — as I was pretty sure they would. More fool me! Not for the first time the Dark Blues let me and their fans down by losing a crucial game against one of the teams in their area of the league.

That’s twice it’s happened when County have visited and there was also a damaging defeat as Hamilton won at Dens a while back.

Earlier in the season, Neil McCann’s men squandered a winning position when they travelled to face Partick Thistle when they were struggling at the bottom of the table.

When you consider this season has seen good wins over top-six outfits like Rangers, Hearts, even twice against St Johnstone when they were in the top half, it’s crazy what’s happened.

What it tells me is when Dundee have a battle on their hands, or there’s the pressure of expectation resting on their shoulders, they have a mental problem.

Well, they better get it sorted or it could come back to haunt them at the end of the season.

Instead of sitting comfortably in mid-table, they are now just five points above the automatic relegation place.

There are three teams below them, but that just shows how tight the bottom half of the Premiership is this season.

It now means there are some big battles lying ahead and that being the case, results like Saturday do not inspire confidence.

And when you miss out on a chance to do yourselves a lot of good, like happened at the weekend, it is going to hurt a lot.

There’s no need for panic just yet because, in general terms, results have been improving over the past few months.

So much so, before Saturday, I felt Dundee had a wee chance of making the top six.

Now, though, they again have work to do to pull themselves away from what is, potentially, a dogfight down at the bottom.

In situations like that you have to be strong, so any mental fraility has to be a concern.

Dundee debutant Simon Murray looks dejected at full-time in their 4-1 home loss to Ross County on Saturday.