Cammy Kerr admits Dundee suffered a post-relegation hangover at the start of this season.
But the work put in during the stuttering early campaign is beginning to pay dividends.
Now, the focus is on avoiding complacency after winning seven games in a row in all competitions and moving to the top of the Championship.
Confidence is high at Dens Park ahead of today’s home match with Arbroath after that run, with five of those seven victories coming in the league.
But that wasn’t always the case this term Kerr admits.
‘It doesn’t happen like that’
Before embarking on their impressive run of form, the Dark Blues had won just seven of their 16 matches in all competitions since the opening day of the league campaign.
“There was a hangover from last year,” Kerr said.
“We knew ourselves that as a club we should be in the Premiership.
“It didn’t work out that way through certain things that happened – performances that weren’t good enough throughout the year.
“You are used to not winning so it does drain confidence.
“Then we had everything that happened during the summer with a new manager coming in, new players and moving to new surroundings.
“Everyone on the outside expects you to go and hit the ground running and everything will just fall into place.
“But it doesn’t happen like that. Football is a place where you have to work and work in the environment you are in.
“I like to think we are seeing the fruits of that now.
“Like I said, there is still a long way to go but we are certainly in a much better place to say the least.”
‘A good mix’
Kerr credits the combination of incoming manager Gary Bowyer and No 2 Billy Barr with a squad boasting a range of experience.
Kerr at the age of 27 is one of the older members of the squad with only five team-mates older than him.
But he says the relationship between the more experienced men in the squad and the talented youngsters at Dens has been key.
Kerr added: “I have been here and seen teams at Dundee that probably haven’t been as together as this.
“I think there is a good mix of people.
“The gaffer and Billy have come in and are good, down-to-earth people.
“They are calm and collected.
“You have a mix of humble young lads who are level headed along with the experience of other guys that are older.
“I am getting to that older stage but everyone is just trying to help everyone else.
“The older lads are looking after the younger ones and telling them when they need to do better.
“The younger ones have also been great and we will need them going forward. They are a talented group and have been great for us this year.”
Naive
Kerr insists keeping that calm and collected feeling in the squad will be crucial in the second half of the season, starting today against Arbroath.
“We are in a good place just now but you can’t get carried away or think that just because you are top of the league you are destined to stay there,” Kerr said.
“It is such a hard league and we need to make sure as a group, as a staff and players that there is certainly no kind of complacency.
“People go on about that anyway but it would be naive to get ahead of ourselves especially at this stage of the season.”
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