Dundee boss John Brown has tipped his team to respond strongly after a potentially damaging day in the Championship race.
At one stage over the weekend it looked like Dundee would head into this Saturday’s crunch clash at New Douglas Park just a point behind league leaders Hamilton, as Accies were losing at Cowdenbeath and Brown’s men were ahead over Falkirk.
However, second-half drama in both games turned things on their head as Dundee eventually had to settle for a solitary point against Falkirk while Accies extended their cushion to six points at the top.
A disappointing outcome for Brown considering the way things had been going, but the Dark Blues boss says his players will pick themselves back up for another massive fixture this weekend.
“Hamilton have come back and I think it shows the team spirit that they have got, but we have got great team spirit here and we’ll bounce back next week,” he said.
“There’s no question about it. Nothing is won in November.
“There’s a long way to go and a lot of obstacles to overcome, but I’ve got a hard-working group here.
“We’re undefeated at home, we’ve won five and drawn two although it should have been six after this weekend.
“But we’re in a good vein of form, so we look forward to next Saturday.”
At 4.25pm, Dundee fans could scarcely have written the script better as their side were a goal to the good against Falkirk while league leaders Hamilton were 2-0 down at Cowdenbeath.
Fast forward to the end of the afternoon and the Dark Blues suddenly found themselves six points adrift of top spot following an incredible turnaround at Central Park and late drama at Dens.
A stoppage-time leveller by substitute Luke Leahy cancelled out Ryan Conroy’s first-half penalty and took some of the heat off Hamilton but defender Matt Lockwood refused to be too downbeat, with a trip to face Accies this coming Saturday.
“It was a scrappy game and on the whole nobody probably deserved to win but, when you are 1-0 up with two minutes to go, you would like to think you would hold on,” he said.
“So we’re gutted in the dressing room but we’ve got next week to look forward to.
“This week was big, last week was big and the big games are coming thick and fast at the moment and they are the games you want to play in.
“Hamilton have had another good result and we’ve dropped points, so it makes the game against Hamilton even more important.
“We’ve been on a great run ourselves and we still haven’t really caught up too much, so it’s fair play to them and it shows how well Hamilton are doing.
“For 89 minutes we were doing all right and I wouldn’t even say it was a lack of concentration I think it was quite a lucky goal.
“The ball has hit the guy on the side of the head and gone in, although these things happen you could say our goal was lucky because it was a penalty.
“So we are disappointed and we’re really looking forward to next week and trying to get back on track.”
Dundee boss Brown bemoaned the stoppage-time equaliser from Leahy that cost his team maximum points.
“I think if it was a 30-yarder in the top corner it might be easier to take but it hit the boy’s face,” he said.
“I don’t think he knew too much about it, but that’s football.
“When you are 1-0 up and you’ve not put the game to bed, there’s always a chance of that happening.
“Full credit goes to both teams for going out and trying to play football but it wasn’t the best spectacle football-wise.”