Dundee boss Paul Hartley insists honesty proved to be the best policy after crucial clear-the-air meetings last week.
The players and the backroom staff got together after the disappointing home defeat to Partick Thistle to fully and frankly discuss what was going wrong with their season.
The talks had the desired effect with Dundee winning for only the second time in the league so far at Hamilton last Saturday.
However, Hartley is adamant the players have to show the same desire and determination every game – starting tomorrow at Dens against Motherwell.
He said: “As long as they keep working as hard as that (at Hamilton), I don’t think we’ll have any complaints.
“They’ve got to keep working like that. Hopefully we can keep getting results but we can’t step off it now.
“We have to fight every week and every day in training and show there’s a real spirit within the group.
“After the Thistle game, we had a couple of good meetings.
“We were quite frank and honest with each other about what we need to do to try and climb the table to get out of this position.
“The only people who can fix it are ourselves and we’ve got to fix it together.
“We were just honest and said to each other we need to be better. That was pretty much it.
“It was everybody – not just the players – as we’re all in this together.
“When things don’t go well, we all take responsibility.
“We can’t just keep blaming myself or the players. We’re in this together and we’ve got to fight to get out of it.”
When asked if the meetings had become heated, Hartley replied: “It was more just honest.
“We had to be honest with each other and acknowledge as a group where we want to be come the end of the season and how it has to be.
“We’ve got good players and we want to get to where we think we should be in the table.
“The group was always strong but I think it’s much stronger now and we want more points.
“We don’t want to be down where we are just now. There’s a lot of hard work still to be done.
“It doesn’t mean everything is OK just because of one result.”
With the long wait for a much-needed victory finally over, Dundee will now try to end their home hoodoo that has seen them fail to win at Dens in the league this season when Motherwell come calling tomorrow.
Hartley added: “Obviously the home form has been a bit of a problem for us.
“Hopefully we’ve got a chance on Saturday to put it right.
“The players have been good this week
“They’re confident and I think they’re looking forward to the match.
“I just think we’ve had a lot of draws at home. We can’t put our finger on why that has been.
“It’s just about getting that win at home and then trying to make this a difficult venue for teams to come and play.
“Teams need to know when they’re coming here that they’re in for a right tough game.
“We changed our style last week in the way we approached the game.
“We’ve got to keep that going now until the end of the season.
“Motherwell have good attacking options, so we have to cope with that and try to exploit any weaknesses they have.”
First-choice keeper Scott Bain missed out against Hamilton because of injury and he could be touch and go for the Motherwell match.
Hartley added: “We’ll need to see how Bain is on Friday. He’s still feeling his groin.
“Mark O’Hara is back running and could be back for the Rangers game, along with Faissal El Bakhtaoui.
“Nicky Low will be back in the squad for Motherwell and so too will Kevin Gomis.”
Meanwhile, Hartley dismissed a report suggesting Dundee had made enquiries about bringing Greg Stewart back to the club on loan from Birmingham City.
The manager said: “Greg is trying to fight to get into their team. We know how good a player he is but there has been no phone call made from anyone here.”
