Defender Lee Ashcroft admits Dundee need to get back to winning ways at Alloa on Friday night after letting two points slip against Raith last weekend.
The 27-year-old says the late equaliser at Dens last Saturday was “a kick in the teeth” after the Dark Blues looked set to string back-to-back 1-0 victories together.
That came after Ashcroft & Co. responded to the 6-2 drubbing suffered at Hearts on the opening day with a single-goal win over Morton.
Once more, though, Dundee are looking to respond to another setback come Friday night at Alloa’s Indodrill Stadium with Ashcroft’s old side Dunfermline already five points ahead of the Dark Blues at the top of the table.
“Being a shorter league we know we need to get going,” Ashcroft said.
“Fair play to Dunfermline, they’ve started well. We will concentrate on ourselves, though, and know we still need to play them three times and play everybody still.
“Saturday was a blow and one we need to learn from. I’ve been in this league long enough to know that holding out for those 1-0 wins is massive.
“Alloa haven’t had the best of starts this season but it is a tough place to go.
“We know what to expect from them.
“It’s a Friday night game again – obviously the last Friday game wasn’t good enough so we need to put that right.
“This week we’ve been having a look at everything from the weekend and looking to learn so we can pick it up again on Friday and get a positive result.”
The first port of call during the player’s video analysis session this week was a forensic look at Frankie Musonda’s equaliser in the 87th minute at Dens on Saturday.
The Englishman volleyed in from five yards as the Dundee defence failed to deal with Dan Armstrong’s corner delivery.
“The first half was great and we got a bit of praise from the manager,” Ashcroft explained.
“We felt comfortable in the game but at 1-0 teams are going to get chances.
“At the back we felt comfortable, though. They put a few balls into the box but we were dealing with them.
“The manager pinpointed before the game that set-pieces were a big thing and they score from one in the 87th minute.
“To lose a goal like that, as a defender, is a kick in the teeth.
“We just need to move on it – we know we should have won the game but they managed to get a point off of us.
“They had made changes so compared with the first half they had a few more big bodies in the box.
“We were picking up but the ball is in the six-yard box at hip height and he managed to volley it in.
“That can’t happen – you can’t have the ball at hip height in your six-yard box from a corner.
“It’s frustrating.”
The big defender admits the Dundee players have been told in no uncertain terms what is expected from the entire team when defending set-plays.
“The management team are on us,” Ashcroft said.
“They show us the video at the start of the week, things we can do better and things we did well.
“It’s not always negative but we had to assess the goal on Saturday.
“It was pinpointed to us before the game that they would be a threat from set-pieces – that’s how it happened.
“We looked over it but we’re moving on quick to Friday night with a day less to prepare this week.
“Hopefully, we are back at it on Friday and can kick on again.”