Dundee are heading to Hibs today with confidence – confidence they can hurt the Hibees on their own patch.
Nick Montgomery’s start to life at Easter Road has been a positive one with a draw followed up by two wins and eight goals scored across the three games.
And they are aiming to make it three home wins on the bounce by seeing of Docherty’s Dark Blues.
“I was at their game on Wednesday and their tails are up,” the Dens gaffer said.
“They’ve certainly got a playing style and you know that place, once it’s going you can have a hell of a good atmosphere in it.
“He’s got a playing style that lends itself to that. They’re now a 4-4-2/4-2-4 whereas before they were a 4-3-3 but I think they’ve now got more attacking intent, which tends to be the Hibs way.
“They were quite brave but Hibs have got good players.
“We’ve watched their last three games so we’ve done our homework against them and much as they’ve got strengths they’ve also got vulnerabilities we can hopefully exploit.
“I was very impressed with them and St Mirren as well, it was really a good game.
“We know we’re going to have our work cut out because they’ve got good players at Hibs.”
‘Open’
But Dundee have shown themselves to be no mugs at Premiership level already this season.
They have defeated Hibs’ city rivals Hearts and picked up draws against Motherwell, St Johnstone and Kilmarnock, losing only to the league’s top two in Celtic and St Mirren.
And the way the Buddies approached their Viaplay Cup quarter-final at Easter Road on Wednesday has given Docherty belief his team can upset Montgomery’s men.
“St Mirren played a certain way and they were very good, particularly first-half,” he added.
“They had numerous chances and put one away. As much as you admire Hibs going forward and the threat they have, it does sometimes leave them open.
“Any time you go to places that are difficult grounds, particularly with the crowd the way they are just now, you have to get the balance right and if we do that and we get the performance right hopefully we can take points away.”
Scott Tiffoney (groin) and Jordan McGhee (foot) are major doubts while Antonio Portales and Aaron Donnelly could return at Easter Road.
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