If it isn’t already now or never time for Dundee, that day is fast approaching, defender Brian Easton has admitted.
Third-bottom Ross County visit Dens Park on Friday night and the match provides the perfect opportunity for the Dark Blues to start eating into the 15-point gap that separates them, and the 14-point one to St Mirren.
While Easton stopped short of calling it a must-win game, it’s as near to just that as you can get. And, such is Dundee’s predicament, victories now need to come in bunches rather than in isolation.
Easton said: “I think we need to win the majority of our games, and we need to take three points against the teams around us like Ross County and St Mirren.
“We don’t have any other option than going on a run of wins. We picked up a couple of draws there against Hibs and Kilmarnock and we were disappointed not to get more from them because it’s all about going on a run.”
If Dundee can go on that run then the former Hamilton man believes survival SPL survival is still a realistic goal.
“When I was at Hamilton we won about five in a row and ended the season staying up,” he pointed out. “So it’s definitely possible. And just look at Reading in the English Championship last season it was the opposite end of the table but they went on a wonderful run towards the end of the season and came out of nowhere to win promotion.
“Hopefully I can contribute my experience of being down there and getting out of it. I think some of the other boys can as well.”
There is no doubting that Dundee are currently in their best form of the season.
First Division leaders Morton were unbeaten on the road when they came to Dens on Sunday in the Scottish Cup, but Barry Smith’s men put five past them in an emphatic victory.
Easton said: “Over the years you’ve seen plenty of times when a team at the top of the First Division has beaten a team at the bottom of the SPL. A lot of people were expecting Morton to beat us and even the bookies didn’t give us short odds. So I think it shows how far we’ve come that we beat them convincingly.
“It’s unfortunate we didn’t hit this form a few months ago but there’s nothing we can do about that now. There’s still plenty of games to go and hopefully we can still stay up.
“It’s much better going into this massive game against Ross County on the back of a good performance against Morton than if we were going into it after the Hearts game, which was a bad result and a poor performance.
“Confidence should be high and hopefully we can get a win.
“A lot of people might be starting to think the league is finished for us but we’re certainly not thinking that way. We’ve still got the belief that we can stay up.
“The difference was for us in 2013 has been that belief. Bar the Hearts game we’ve done well in all our matches after the break and we’ve been playing with more confidence.”
Easton also feels his own game is getting close to the standard he expects of himself.
He said: “I’ve played all the games in 2013 and I’m starting to feel as if I’m near to speed.
“At the start when I came back it was about building my match fitness. I’m able to get up and down the pitch more each game but I still think there’s a bit more to come.”