Dundee boss John Brown says his players can handle the pressure that comes with being the new Championship leaders.
The Dark Blues shot to the top of the table on Saturday after beating Morton at Cappielow while front runners Hamilton were being defeated by Alloa.
Brown’s side are only ahead of Accies on goal difference but have now been reinstated as favourites by one prominent bookmaker to win the league title.
Although that brings a burden of expectation, the manager believes the real strain is at the other end of the table for sides trying to beat the drop.
Brown said: “There was pressure after the first game of the season when we lost down at Queen of the South. Everyone was writing us off but we’ve come back from that.
“Pressure is where Morton and Cowdenbeath are at the bottom of the league. We were relegated last season so we’ve got to show that we’ve got something about us to come straight back up.”
Brown believes that consistency of selection has been key in Dundee’s surge to the top of the table but he is wary of the effect a couple of injuries could have.
And he believes that Hamilton’s loss of player/boss Alex Neil as well as their star striker Mickael Antoine-Curier recently is one of the reasons for Accies being defeated in their last two home games against Alloa and Dundee.
Brown said: “Hamilton are hitting a wee sticky spell like we had earlier in the season.
“They’re missing a couple of key players like the manager and their striker which can have an impact so, from our point of view, we have to try to keep all our players together as we’ve had roughly the same team on the pitch week in, week out.
“Consistency of selection is good and it makes for a good fighting spirit among the lads.”
Brown made only one change to the starting XI that was defeated in the Scottish Cup by Raith last week for the game at Cappielow, with Craig Beattie being drafted in and Craig Wighton dropping to the bench.
The manager admits the older frontman’s battling qualities had the impact he had hoped for.
Brown added: “Having Beattie’s physical presence along with his experience up front helped us. We just decided to take young Craig Wighton out because of the physical aspect.
“Beatts helped to keep them on the back foot and he’ll be an important player for us.”