Cutting out “daft errors” has been the key to Dundee finding the form that has rejuvenated their promotion push says striker Danny Mullen.
Though they were held to a 1-1 draw at home by struggling Greenock Morton on Saturday, the Dark Blues have now picked up 10 points from the last 12.
That saw manager James McPake named Championship Manager of the Month for March and the Dee move into contention for the coveted second spot.
Earlier in the campaign, inconsistency dogged Dundee as they struggled to put together a meaningful run of form.
Mullen, though, now hopes they’ve figured that out at a crucial point of the season.
“We looked at it in training and tried to cut out the silly mistakes we were making,” he said.
“People always blame defenders when you are losing goals but strikers have to look at ourselves as well because we start the press.
“So we have cut out the daft errors and we aren’t losing too many goals.
“We were on a good run there with the three wins and now a draw. We probably should have had the three points but it wasn’t to be.
“But we are full of confidence and the boys are looking forward to every game just now.
“They are coming thick and fast so we have to be ready. We have a full squad that is fit.
“Boys like Alex Jakubiak and Jordan McGhee are coming back into the picture now so there is a lot of competition for places.
“It is a good place to be at the moment.”
Different challenge from Dunfermline
And they can strengthen their chances for second spot with victory at Dunfermline on Tuesday night.
After coming up against a stubborn defensive side in Ton Mullen expects a far different challenge posed by the Pars.
“We are going there with a plan to, hopefully, get the win,” said Mullen.
“The way they play, I think they will go direct but we will go there and play our usual game.
“We will come up with a Plan A and a Plan B and just try to win it.
“Morton were going to fight for everything and you could see that with the way they played.
“We had the majority of possession, we tried to create and on another day we probably could have scored more.
“But we are looking forward to Tuesday now. It is going to be a different game away there.
“It is a game we are going to look to win and, hopefully, we can get the three points.”
How did the Morton match unfold?
Mullen felt the Dark Blues should have made it four wins from their last four league games after a late Declan McDaid goal was disallowed by referee Alan Newlands.
That was after a drab contest that sparked into life late in the game.
Morton – sitting in the relegation play-off spot before the game – were keen to put a miserable 4-1 home defeat to Inverness on Tuesday night behind them.
And they came to Dens Park determined to avoid a repeat of their defensive showing against Neil McCann’s men.
It was clear from the start, Dundee would have to battle through a packed defence to get anything.
And, for much of the contest, it was the defenders who were on top at both ends with Ton defenders in particular putting in a number of important blocks.
Neither keeper had anything meaningful to deal with before the away side took the lead on 78 minutes.
Lewis Strapp cut inside Christie Elliott to fire a right-footed effort goalwards. Dee goalie Adam Legzdins got down to push the ball wide but it wasn’t wide enough as it fell for Aidan Nesbitt to knock in via the post.
Immediately Charlie Adam was called for from the bench and Dundee began to pepper the visiting penalty area with crosses.
Eventually, a Paul McGowan ball dropped for Lee Ashcroft via Osman Sow’s flick-on and the big defender buried his fourth goal in five matches.
That was with three minutes to go and there was still time for Dundee to put the ball in the net once more but referee Alan Newlands had already blown for a foul by Osman Sow.
‘One of those days’
With four matches now remaining, Mullen says it was important to keep their unbeaten run going even if it wasn’t a great day for the Dark Blues.
He added: “It is disappointing because we gave everything.
“The disallowed goal at the end, I didn’t think it was a foul and Declan puts it in.
“So we are disappointed but looking at results elsewhere, we didn’t really lose anything on the people around us.
“We had a few half chances – there weren’t many clear-cut ones.
“I think that was down to the way they played. They were deep and there wasn’t much space in behind.
“They put their bodies on the line so credit to them for that. But as I said, we were disallowed a goal I thought should have stood.
“It was just one of those days.”