Sam Dalby admits Dundee United are facing their biggest test of character so far this season after suffering back-to-back Premiership defeats.
The Terrors lost to a solitary goal against Aberdeen at Pittodrie on Saturday and then experienced another narrow reverse to Motherwell on Wednesday night at Tannadice.
A Tawanda Maswanhise brace either side of a Dalby goal sealed the win for the Steelmen.
Now, as United prepare for Sunday’s capital clash against Hibs at Easter Road, on-loan Wrexham striker Dalby acknowledged this is a testing time for the team’s resilience.
The 24-year-old said: “Yes, definitely. It’s far from a catastrophe. We’ve lost two games in a row, both by one goal.
“I felt like we played well for the majority of the Motherwell game so it’s a difficult one to take, not coming away with any points.
“It’s always nice to get on the score sheet but, at the end of the day, it’s the points that count.
“I’ll take us getting three points and not getting a goal, but that’s just how it goes.
“The quick turnaround is a good thing, as there’s not much time to think about it. We can just go to the weekend and try to get a positive result.”
Despite the two recent reverses, Dalby insisted that, looking at the bigger picture, it has still been a fantastic start to the season for the newly-promoted Terrors who sit fifth in the Premiership table with 15 points to their name.
He said: “Yes, exactly. When you look at it like that, we’ve obviously only had three defeats this season, all by one goal.
“So it’s something we can look at and just avoid the bad goals that we’ve conceded against Motherwell. Once we do that, we’ll be in a good position.”
United’s Manny Adegboyega was at fault for Maswanhise’s second goal.
Dalby revealed the defender had not apologised to his team-mates for his gaffe – and does not need to.
The front man added: “No, people make mistakes. I’ve had a chance five minutes before that where I could have pulled the trigger with my right foot.
“If we go 2-1 up then it’s a different story. The first goal was a bad goal to concede as well.
“So the reason why we didn’t get the three points in the end is not all down to one mistake. It’s something that we’ll learn from and try to put it right on the weekend.”
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