As Dundee strive to save their season, manager Jim McIntyre has told his players: “It’s got to be now.”
The stark message from the boss is that the rescue mission must start immediately and that means beating St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park tonight.
The Dark Blues have had to try to shake off the despondency that followed Saturday’s terrible 2-1 loss to relegation rivals St Mirren.
That result put them bottom of the Premiership with just 18 points and seven games remaining.
It is crunch time and McIntyre has reminded his players of that.
He said: “Saturday was a massive game for both clubs that we lost and ended up back at the bottom.
“That’s as big a jolt as you will ever get.
“Head-to-heads are so important with the other teams and we have lost the first one.
“Now we need to bounce back.
“The good thing is we have a game quickly and, after a disappointing result, that’s what you want.
“It’s a chance to bounce back and get it out of our system.
“We will try to use the defeat as a motivational tool.
“I know exactly the situation we are in and the importance of it.
“It’s about hammering home the message to the players that the games are running out.
“It’s got to be now.
“I said two months ago that it would go to the wire because I think the squads, and consistency levels, are evenly matched but we have to concentrate on ourselves and winning the next game.
“The focus has to be on bouncing back from Saturday now.
“For me, we have to make sure we are better in the remaining games.
“It can’t be any simpler than that.”
McIntyre has seen St Johnstone himself recently and had others watch them, too, so knows they haven’t exactly been setting the heather on fire.
However, he stated: “We just concentrate on ourselves and worry about us.
“St Johnstone lost at the weekend but they beat St Mirren in the game before that.
“We know if we play to our abilities that we are capable of getting a result.
“Equally, we know that they are a good side. The game is there for the side that shows that bit of quality.”
Dundee will have a good number of supporters backing them in Perth this evening on the back of taking 1,600 to Paisley.
McIntyre would love to give them something to cheer about after they were let down at the weekend.
He added: “The fans were brilliant on Saturday but we can also understand their frustrations.
“These games are going to be tense and nervy.
“It’s about how you react and stand up to that.
“You need to be brave and that’s not just about sliding into tackles.
“Bravery is about taking the ball in tight areas or looking for it after you’ve lost a goal.
“We need to stand up and be counted and for the majority of my time here, we have done that.
“There has been a reaction in times of adversity but we didn’t do that on Saturday.
“That is where the criticism comes and we take that squarely on the chin.”
Captain Martin Woods is rated only 50-50 but Craig Curran should be fine after the pair picked up knocks. Andrew Nelson was feeling fatigued after playing 90 minutes against the Buddies but should be OK.
McIntyre added: “Nelson was tired but he’s not had a lot of game time and has picked up niggles.
“Ideally, we would like to feed him in but we are running out of games and he has a goal threat.
“We will see how he reacts in training but he seems fine.”
