Dundee boss Paul Hartley has identified the next set of fixtures as vitally important for his side as they look to haul themselves off the bottom of the Premiership table.
The Dark Blues face Richie Foran’s Inverness at Dens tomorrow before a trip to Kilmarnock and then another home match with Ross County.
As things stand, the opposition trio all sit on 14 points, just two ahead of Dundee and the manager is looking to take full advantage in the key triple header.
Hartley said: “We have always had difficult games up there against Inverness but the matches here have usually been tight.
“I think the next period of games are important to us.
“There are points we can pick up. We have looked at the fixtures and we are at home in quite a few of them.
“But it is another tough game on Saturday. We can go above Inverness with a victory but it is not always as easy as that.
“Richie has done well. They had a difficult start but they have come through it.
“The games are always close with them.”
Hartley added: “We could possibly leapfrog a few teams on Saturday but we have to keep working hard.
“The players have never let their heads go down even although we are at the bottom.
“But there is not a lot between the teams and if we keep working the way we have in the last few games, then I think we are going to be fine.”
Dundee suffered late agony against Rangers at Ibrox last week, losing by a solitary Harry Forrester goal deep into stoppage time.
However, Hartley insisted the mood was upbeat in the camp when the players returned to work and there were plenty of positives to take from the game.
He said: “I have been pleased with how we have performed over the last three games. It has been good.
“The workrate and attitude of the players has been excellent so we just have to keep it going.
“I think sometimes it is too easy to look at the negative side of things if you lose a last-minute goal but we talked about the positives and how they have done well.
“That’s what we’ve done over the last month. I just feel we have to be as positive as we can with them.”
Hartley is also feeling positive with the relatively-new formation his side are using at the moment, something he had to implement to halt the flow of goals against.
He said: “We had to change because of the personnel we lost.
“We also had to change because we were shipping too many goals.
“It has been good to work with a different system but we are going to have to continue with that.
“It has been hard work but I have enjoyed working with a back three, five across the middle and two up top.
“We have just changed our style a wee bit because we were losing too many goals.”
Mark O’Hara and Nicky Low both played for the Under-20s earlier this week but Hartley revealed neither will be considered for tomorrow’s game.
He said: “Mark and Nicky are still a week away. They will not be in the squad.
“Yordi Teijsse has taken a little knock so we will have to see how he is.
“Michael Duffy has been ill all week but he should be OK.
“James McPake is training hard but we will give him time and be patient with him.
“But we are happy with his progress. I think he is enjoying coming into training now.
“It has been a lot of hard work for him and there is still a long way to go but we are pleased with the way everything is going just now.”
Meanwhile, a report at the weekend linked West Ham with a move for a Dundee youngster, English teenager James Cowan.
However, the player has not been at Dens for several weeks after the club agreed to let him return down south because cross-border red tape meant he was looking at not being able to play for the Dark Blues for another nine months.
