There is no disguising the importance of Dundee’s game at Hamilton on Saturday, both in the context of the season as a whole as well as manager Neil McCann’s future.
The Dark Blues will travel west still without a point to their name having lost seven matches in a row in total.
No visiting team enjoys playing on the artificial surface at Hamilton while Accies’ tails will still be up after last week’s 3-0 home win against St Mirren.
McCann, though, insisted after his own side’s 3-0 home defeat to Hibs last weekend that this was definitely a winnable game but looking at the recent history of the fixture between the clubs, there is good and bad news for the manager.
When the former Sky Sports pundit took over as interim boss following Paul Hartley’s sacking, he won the next two games against Motherwell and Kilmarnock before drawing to Ross County.
However, the season ended poorly with a defeat at home to Inverness followed by a 4-0 loss through at Hamilton.
Last season saw another 3-0 defeat at New Douglas Park in August followed by a dismal 3-1 loss at Dens to Hamilton in October.
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The Dark Blues travelled through to the west once more in January of this year and went behind early on to Accies after a Mark O’Hara own goal but equalised through Matty Henvey before A-Jay Leitch-Smith scored a dramatic last-gasp winner to take all three points for McCann’s men.
Dundee then secured another vital victory over Accies in May at Dens with a solitary Kevin Holt goal the difference between the sides.
So pretty much a mixed bag for the present incumbent of the Dens Park hot-seat.
His predecessor Paul Hartley probably saved his bacon when he managed to pick up a win at Hamilton in October, 2016.
The Dark Blues approached the game having lost their previous six league matches and hadn’t won in 10 fixtures since an away victory at Ross County in August.
However, Dundee’s woes resurfaced later in the campaign with the Dark Blues losing six Premiership games in a row with a home defeat against – guess who? – Hamilton proving to be the final nail in Hartley’s coffin.
Now, McCann will no doubt be hoping that he can make it three wins in a row over Accies to give him some desperately-needed breathing space.
The omens though are not good with Dundee once more having lost six league games on the bounce – it is earlier in the season but if the run extended to seven, then it is difficult to see how McCann would not suffer a similar fate to the one that befell Hartley.
