Mark McGhee says Dundee have given St Johnstone “a lot to think about” after defeating Hibs 3-1 at Dens Park.
It was a first victory for the Dark Blues boss since taking over in February, ending a 12-match winless streak in the process.
Victory was required to keep things going, for 24 hours at least.
Now they need St Johnstone to lose to Aberdeen on Wednesday night to still have chance on the last day of the season.
And McGhee was pleased to put some pressure on the Perth side.
“It gives them a lot to think about,” he said.
“If we lost tonight, then it’s all over, but it wouldn’t have given us as much hope going into Sunday.
“But now, you look at it and think the chances are that we might get a result on Sunday. They’ll feel that pressure as well.”
‘Spirit was there’
The home support were sent home happy after a positive performance from their side.
Niall McGinn kicked things off with an early strike before James Scott levelled.
Charlie Adam and Luke McCowan came on with 30 minutes to go and inspired Dundee to victory.
McCowan would set up the excellent Josh Mulligan for his first goal at Dens Park on 67 minutes before Adam sealed victory with a 25-yard howitzer in the final stages.
“I’ve been talking about this incremental improvement and then we had the disaster at the weekend. I did say we felt as if the spirit was there,” McGhee said.
“I think we just got the right moments in the game. They could have scored another goal easily.
“We had a goal disallowed. I’ve watched it back it’s not offside. It’s onside. It’s a ridiculous decision.
“In the second half we squeezed it and got the goals at the right time.
“We went with a passing midfield on Saturday. We expected to pass the ball to victory but tonight we expected to run ourselves to victory.
“That was how it was. We weren’t going to keep the ball as well. We didn’t have the footballers of Charlie or (Paul) McGowan.
“We knew we weren’t going to be a passing team tonight but we felt we needed that energy.
“It was a case of making sure we were in the game and then 20 minutes for Charlie at the end.”
