Dundee boss Paul Hartley insists his players did not crack under the pressure of the Championship title race when they lost against relegated Morton on Saturday.
The defeat to a solitary Dougie Imrie goal, combined with a Hamilton victory over Alloa, saw the Dark Blues slip off the summit of the league table and their promotion destiny has now been taken out of their hands.
However, Hartley insists as he geared up for this weekend’s must-win fixture at Alloa, that his players had not buckled because of the burden of expectation in Greenock.
He said: “I think the players have coped really well with the pressure. Saturday was just one of those days when we didn’t win the game.
“But this doesn’t just happen in Scotland, it happens all over the country at this stage of the season. It is all about keeping your nerve and fully concentrating on winning a game.
“There is a lot in front of the players and they have to enjoy it. No team has dominated this league and it has been a bit of a rollercoaster, but we have to make sure we handle the pressure.”
Hartley insisted that what happened against Morton has already been consigned to the past as he and his players switch focus for the trip to Alloa.
He said: “The boys are training hard and are in good spirits. We want a good week under our belts to make sure we are ready on Saturday.
“We are disappointed about what happened at the weekend but there is nothing we can do about it now. We have to get all our focus on the Alloa game.
“We created umpteen chances against Morton but we just could not finish them. That is the hardest part of football, putting the ball into the back of the net.
“We lost a poor goal but we should have killed the game off before that. If you don’t take your chances, you are always a bit vulnerable to the opposition maybe getting one.
“So we have to regroup and keep the players’ minds on this week only. We cannot control what happens to Hamilton or Falkirk, we can only control what happens to us.”
Nicky Riley and Iain Davidson picked up knocks against Morton but both are expected to be fit for the trip to Alloa.
Hamilton defender Martin Canning, meanwhile, insists Accies need to guard against collapsing under the pressure of leading the Championship.
Hamilton are now a single point clear at the summit ahead of the final two games of the season against Dumbarton and Morton.
But experienced centre-half Canning admits they must be ready to handle the strain of being hunted at the top.
Canning said: “It’s a strange thing pressure because, when you’re chasing, there is a pressure there to go and win because you don’t want to fall any further back.
“When you’re top, the pressure is trying to stay top. You saw that at the weekend, with Dundee going top last week they had a different type of pressure against Morton.
“We’ve got to guard against that next week as it’s a different type of pressure when you are top and it means so much to stay there.”