Simon Murray is more than deserving of his PFA Scotland Player of the Year nomination.
He’s been so important for Dundee, so influential and it’s great that his fellow players have recognised just how good he has been this season.
Murray has been a superb signing for the Dark Blues.
And the good news is there’s no way he’s finished yet.
He’s scored eight goals in his last eight Premiership matches.
At this stage of the season that is absolutely priceless.
For him to be level with Celtic’s Daizen Maeda in the race for top goalscorer while playing for a bottom six team is remarkable.
And I wouldn’t be betting against him adding to his goalscoring tally over the final few games.
In-form Dee
If he does, Dundee won’t be worrying about relegation come the final day.
The entire club got a huge boost after Saturday’s win at Hearts.
Particularly after the big defeat at Hibs a couple of weeks beforehand.
They have shrugged off that knock brilliantly and I get the feeling they are now looking forward to the final four games with anticipation rather than trepidation.
Psychologically the win at Hearts is a major, major boost.
Not only in terms of the clean sheet but looking at the league table.
Being out of the bottom two is bigger than you can imagine.
When you are in a relegation fight getting any sort of result is so difficult and it feels even harder when you are in the drop zone.
County cost
It was a massive boost for Dundee but also a major blow for Ross County.
When you look at the form of the two sides I know which team I’d rather be.
County have lost five in a row and look in real trouble.
The Dark Blues, meanwhile, are the in-form side in the bottom six.
They’ve picked up nine points from their last five with the two defeats coming against teams placed second and third in the table.
Dundee have had some real tough games in that run and they are coming out the other side in pretty good shape.
The manner of the Hearts win actually makes the Hibs defeat look more like a blip than anything else.
Tony Docherty
They are clearly up for the fight in this battle to avoid the drop and I don’t see that changing this weekend.
What will change is their approach. I don’t expect fans at Dens Park to be happy with a defensive performance like at Hearts when they face Motherwell this Saturday.
I’ve written before about Tony Docherty struggling to get the balance right between attack and defence.
At Hearts, they got that right in that particular game. This one will be different, the balance has to shift more to being a front-foot side.
Use the setup at Hearts as the base but add a couple of wee tweaks here and there, like pushing Josh Mulligan further forward, and Dundee have a real chance of grabbing another big result.
Keep up their form and safety will be assured.
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