Cool heads and brave hearts will be needed for Dundee today as they face relegation Dee-day at home to St Johnstone.
The Dark Blues know anything but victory will likely spell relegation back to the Championship at the first time of asking.
The Perth side lead their Tayside rivals by five points with five matches left to play so it really is now or never for the Dens men.
Central defender Ryan Sweeney knows more than anyone how important keeping things tight at the back can be.
He played in the last two meetings between the sides, keeping clean sheets in each of those clashes.
The rugged centre-half has also shown how crucial it can be to stick your neck on the line, literally, when it comes to keeping the ball out of your goal in big games.
A diving block with his head to deny Nicky Clark a derby winner at Dens in February endeared the former Stoke City man to the Dundee faithful.
“For a defender your first job is to keep the ball out of the net – so you need to have that spirit sometimes,” Sweeney said.
“This weekend the message we have been taking on board is that there’s different ways to be brave.
“It’s about putting your head in where it hurts sometimes, but also players wanting to take the ball and make things happen.”
Derby block
He added: “That one in the derby, it was just one of those instinctive ones – the ball was there and had to be cleared.
“I was off balance trying to intercept the cutback and the way I was shaped, the quickest route was to go for it with my head.
“I wasn’t too sure where it went afterwards because my face was planted in the six-yard box and I remember lying there hoping I wasn’t going to hear a roar.
“Football is tight margins, the difference between winning and losing is fine lines sometimes.
“What it takes is a bit of quality or even a bit of luck because most of the games in this league are so tight.
“If you defend your box well then you’ll give yourself a chance.”
Calmness
Though a draw would mean the Dark Blues still have a chance of catching St Johnstone in 11th, it would leave Dundee with a huge task.
Therefore it is imperative Dundee come away with all three points.
He said: “Training this week has been good, the intensity has been there leading into today.
“We are going into it on the back of a good week, everyone is ready to go.
“It’s a huge game for both teams, we understand how important it is.
“You get to a stage in the season like now and where we find ourselves, it does go down as a must-win game.
“We try to approach every game in the same manner in the days leading up to it, but when you get to this point to the season there is more of an edge to it.
“But it’s also important to keep that calmness, those cool heads because that gives us the best chance to win it.
“If we can bring a good performance we’ll give ourselves a chance to win.”
