Dundee’s Declan McDaid insists no-one at Dens was overly concerned by the nine-point gap that had opened up between themselves and league leaders Dundee United.
That margin has now been cut by three points following a weekend that saw the Tangerines lose at Alloa on Friday night and the Dark Blues win on Saturday against Arbroath.
McDaid, who was Dundee’s two-goal hero against the Red Lichties, said: “People were talking about this gap already but we were only seven games in.
“It wasn’t a lot, still single digits.
“We know what we are capable of and we had been playing well.
“The results will come and hopefully the Arbroath win will be the start of a wee run.”
And McDaid has warned that when United make the short journey up the road for the next derby at the start of next month, they will meet a very different team to the one they beat 6-2 back in August.
The 23-year-old added: “Yes, 100%, I would say so. I don’t think there was that big a gulf in the first derby.
“It was a weird game where everything went in for them.
“I wouldn’t have said they were 10 times better than us as a team so it should be a better game here the next time.
“We are going to hold that (the hurt) in until the next one and remember it.
“I think we were a bit shocked by what happened at Tannadice but we knew it wasn’t a 6-2 game.
“We didn’t play terribly it was just a weird, weird game so it didn’t shatter our confidence.
“We have continued trying to play well and do the right things.
“That’s it starting to come together now.”
