Simon Rusk hopes a Scottish Cup win over Rangers will give Dundee the lift they need in the battle for Premiership survival.
The Dark Blues are a point adrift of St Johnstone at the foot of the table but will have a break from league action this weekend.
The Dee have the chance to make their first Scottish Cup semi-final since 2006 but will first have to overcome Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side.
Rangers go into the clash fresh from a 3-0 win over Red Star Belgrade.
Rusk was impressed by what he saw on Thursday but insists Dundee have nothing to fear.
‘Good occasion’
“Any side that Rangers put out, we know it’s going to be a big challenge,” Rusk, who will again take the team with Mark McGhee isolating, said.
“It’s not that we fear. We’ve got to look forward to it. It’s going to be a good occasion and a brilliant day for everyone really.
“If we can get the result, give the place a lift and give the fans something to get behind, that will be in the front of our thinking.
“We’ve had a lot of adversity in the last two weeks.
“We’ve been missing a lot of players and been going into these games without a recognised forward. We lost our captain [Lee Ashcroft] in the warm up.
“It’s not a straight forward situation for us at the minute and what we’ve got to do is knit together.
“Everyone has got to stay together and push in the right direction.
“That starts with us, the players on the pitch.
“If we can unite that feeling and almost have that siege mentality really, particularly when things are tough, and this is the perfect game for us Sunday.”
