Defender Jordan Marshall admits only perfection will now save Dundee from the drop.
That’s after the Dark Blues failed to cut the gap to 11th-placed St Johnstone over the weekend, remaining five points adrift with four games to play.
It was Marshall himself who got the Dens Park side off to the perfect start, firing a classy finish beyond Zander Clark.
However, he admits it was a “bittersweet” moment as he notched his first goal of the season.
Because it has left Dundee needing four wins from four to keep themselves in the Premiership.
‘Cost us’
Asked how many games they need to win to stay up, Marshall replied: “We have to win all four games really.
“We are five points adrift so nothing less than four wins will do.
“We’ve said that in the dressing-room that draws aren’t good enough. We need to win all of those four games. We have to go for it in every game.
“Of course it’s possible. We have players in there that make us a good team, a very good team.
“We just haven’t shown it consistently enough. We’ve played well in stages and bad at other times and it’s cost us and it’s been the same story all season.
“There’s real quality in there but for whatever reason, it just hasn’t clicked.”
‘Bittersweet’
He added: “Saturday was bittersweet to be honest.
“In the first half I thought we played really well. But in the second half, we knew they were going to be more direct and I don’t really think we handled it until maybe the last 15 minutes or so.
“We needed to be better in the second half and it’s a massive disappointment not to win.”
‘Stranger things’
Dundee haven’t won any of their last nine league matches, failing to win in two-and-a-half months of football.
Suddenly going from that kind of form to four straight victories is unlikely.
Marshall, though, insists Dundee should not be written off yet.
“Of course it will be difficult. We are realists,” he added.
“But it’s not done at the end of the day. Stranger things have happened in football and we have got to keep working hard and fighting.
“It’s not over yet.”
