Sunday’s Scottish Cup derby defeat may have deflated the Dundee balloon, but club captain Gary Irvine has insisted it hasn’t had a pin stuck in it.
Others have written off the Dark Blues chances of SPL survival, but the players haven’t.
And they’re determined to show the fight is still in them when St Mirren visit Dens Park on Wednesday night.
Irvine said: “Fifteen points is a big gap (to second bottom Hearts) but I’ll always have the attitude that we need to keep fighting away.
“There are still some massive games to play, starting with St Mirren. All we can try and do is show the right attitude, do the right things, and hope that brings us back into the mix.
“It’s not about looking at other teams. Every game is like a quarter-final against our neighbours now.
“We want to claw that gap back. We can’t let things go from here.
“If it’s still possible you’ve got to go for it. Obviously the fact that St Mirren are in the bottom half makes this a huge one.
“We’ve not given ourselves a points target. We’re just concentrating on the next game. Maybe if we start getting some wins people will take notice of us.”
Irvine had a feeling that the crucial decisions went against them against United, and seeing the match again on television reinforced it.
He said: “To find out that the ball had crossed the line before their first goal just added to our frustration.
“It was a massive occasion for the club and meant so much to the fans and the players. That’s the sort of bad luck we’ve been carrying this season.
“I felt the game was there for the winning. After we got our goal, we had the momentum and Nicky Riley was brought down straight afterwards and got booked rather than given a penalty.
“The pictures show there was definitely contact there. Bairdy then had a great chance, which could have gone in.
“It feels as if they had two chances and took them both. There wasn’t much in any of the derby games, especially this one.
“We felt we probably dominated most of this one, scored a good goal and had a lot of other chances.”