Dundee boss John Brown is not surprised that Hamilton have emerged as the team to beat in the Championship.
The Dark Blues were installed as the pre-season favourites by the bookmakers to win the league title but the Dens Park side find themselves sitting in second place in the table, six points behind Accies.
Brown is a firm admirer of the Hamilton youth system and their manager Alex Neil, an opinion that was strengthened after the Lanarkshire outfit dominated for large spells in the first encounter between the two sides at Dens in September that finished 0-0.
However, he is confident that his players can go to New Douglas Park and come away with the victory that would cut Accies’ points advantage to just three.
Brown said: “Every game is tough but this is against the form team in the division.
“I expected them to be up there challenging before a ball was kicked so it doesn’t surprise me. They play a decent standard of football and finished last season really strongly.
“They have good players and a good manager in Alex Neil. They all work hard for each other.
“In the first game at Dens, Hamilton played us off the park for the first hour and it was just fortunate it was still 0-0. So we have to get right in about them this weekend and hopefully we can leave there with a win.
“We have the experience and the quality within our camp to do that.”
Brown insists that there is no chance of Dundee sitting back and hoping to sneak a victory against Hamilton, so instead they will approach the game as they would any other, on the front foot from the start.
He said: “There’s a six-point gap at the moment so we don’t want to lose any further ground. But that’s no way to go into it thinking like that. Every game we fancy our chances. We won’t be defensive or anything like it.
“Everyone is going on about what a good season Hamilton are having but we’ll be three points behind them on Saturday if we win.”
Craig Beattie has trained all week and will come into contention for a place in the side against Hamilton but former skipper Stephen O’Donnell will miss out as a precautionary measure after picking up a strain.