Coping with the pressure of a title run-in, rather than “pretty football”, is likely to decide who wins the Championship this season, according to Dundee boss Paul Hartley.
The Dens Park manager is drawing upon his own experience of the last few games of a promotion battle as player and manager, and the one certainty is that results at this stage are more important than performances.
That will never be more true than at Hamilton on Saturday, when first and second clash in what Hartley believes is Scotland’s game of the day.
He said: “It’s high-pressure games now but you can’t get too high if you win or too low if you lose.
“When you’re going for league titles, with two or three teams in contention, it’s about winning games of football. It might not be pretty football. It could come down to who handles the pressure the best.
“We don’t need to motivate the players for a game like this. That comes from within. It’s got the makings of a cracking game. I think it’s the game of the day in Scotland.
“All the other leagues are pretty much done at the top. In this one it could go to the last game of the season.”
Hartley isn’t shying away from the importance of the New Douglas Park fixture, but he doesn’t want to get it out of proportion.
“It is a big game,” he pointed out. “It’s the next biggest game of the season for us. But I don’t think it will be a decider one way or the other. There are four games after it, and Falkirk are still in the mix.
“Most of the teams we all play will have something to aim for, be it the title, the play-offs or avoiding relegation.
“When we took over we thought it would be tight, and we’ve been proved right. We’ll take a massive following and it’s a game that we want to win. We’ve sold 2,000 tickets already, and the fans could make a real difference.”
The size of their travelling support, memories of an excellent win at Hamilton under John Brown earlier in the campaign, and their impressive away form as a whole are all reasons to be optimistic for Dundee.
Hartley noted: “We’ve been OK at home since we came in. Saturday was our first defeat at home but it wasn’t a bad performance. We had chances to win the game.
“But we know we can win games away from home. We’ll be going into it with confidence and it’s up to us to keep the boys relaxed.
“Hamilton have got a real threat from middle to front. They score goals. Scotland and Curier are both proven goalscorers.
“We know what Hamilton’s strengths and weaknesses are. We’ve played them often enough. They’ll be saying the same about us.
“This is my fourth time I’ve faced Hamilton this season (with Dundee and Alloa). My teams have been pretty successful.
“I was actually at the game Dundee beat Hamilton. I think Alloa were due to play Hamilton the following week. Dundee performed very well that day.”
Gary Irvine, Gavin Rae, Jim McAlister and Iain Davidson all have knocks but Hartley is confident they will be in his weekend squad.
Meanwhile, Hamilton player-manager Alex Neil could have played himself into contention for Saturday’s crunch game after nearly six months out with a groin injury.
The 32-year-old, who has been sidelined since October, got over an hour’s worth of game time on Tuesday as an over-age player in a 4-3 under-20 win for the Accies over Dunfermline.
Neil said: “I played for half an hour in a game last week and have added to that now with an hour.
“I will add myself to the squad for Dundee and see how things are later on in the week.”