Manager James McPake hailed the spirit of his Dundee players after a hard-fought, high-pressure victory at St Mirren.
The Dark Blues went into the contest on the back of a woeful 5-0 home hammering to bottom side Ross County, a night McPake described as the worst of his career.
However, he says he’ll sleep more soundly tonight after watching his side battle for everything in Paisley, earning a vital three points thanks to Max Anderson’s 11th-minute strike.
“The players deserve the credit,” the Dens boss said.
“This is a tough place to come. I’m so happy for them. They deserve it.
“We can say it’s for the fans but this is for the players because they’ve hurt as much as anyone.
“They had to play on Wednesday then turn up and put on a performance like that.
“It’s only one performance and one win but off the back of the other night it was a massive display.
“That’s what got the result – the attitude and desire.”
He added: “Over the course of the four games that is more a reflection of us but we’ll use Wednesday, that won’t go away.
“It’s happened too much for our liking.
“The beauty of football is you have to move on and it’s Celtic next week.
“It’ll be a better night and thankfully it was only a couple of days.
“They were down and they were on their knees and everyone was rightly criticising us.
“They can now stand and be tall.”
Cillian Sheridan
The only sour note of a wholly positive afternoon for McPake and his men was the loss of striker Cillian Sheridan to a serious-looking injury in the second half.
The Irishman had been a surprise inclusion as both Leigh Griffiths and Jason Cummings dropped to the bench.
However, he led the line impressively until early in the second half when he went down after an innocuous challenge.
A stretcher was needed and it could be a lengthy injury for the 32-year-old.
“We think it’s Cillian’s Achilles which would be a real shame because he was excellent,” McPake said.
“He caused problems and we had joy getting down the sides of their back three with Cillian just willing to run.
“It wasn’t the nicest or fancy side of being a striker, the hard yards.
“It was getting us up the pitch but it looked like we will miss him. He will go for a scan but it looked like a ruptured Achilles.
“It’s a sore one for him and the club because he was starting to look a threat.
“I’m gutted for him.”
