Dundee’s Andrew Nelson insists everyone at Dens will remain fully focused on what they are trying to achieve and ignore what is happening across the road at Tannadice.
The former Sunderland striker was the Dark Blues’ supersub hero on Saturday, coming off the bench in the second half to score the only goal of the game against Ayr.
Nelson’s header secured Dundee their first three points of the campaign following on from the opening-night draw at Dunfermline a week before.
In contrast, United have a perfect record so far, with six points from their two games, with the latest win coming on Friday evening against Partick Thistle.
Many pundits have already decided the Championship is a two-horse race between the Dundee clubs but Nelson insists he and his team-mates are not interested in what their city rivals are doing.
The 21-year-old said: “We only have one focus in mind and that’s promotion.
“I doesn’t matter what anyone else is doing – it is what we are doing.
“If we do our bit right, then I firmly believe we will get promoted.
“You can’t really take into consideration what everyone else is doing. We just crack on with our own thing.
“Obviously there are little bits, football conversations but no-one is really bothered by it to be honest.
“We just have our heads down working away. We have a job to do and it is a long season.
“We have had a good start so we will look to maintain that standard.”
Dundee boss James McPake handed Kane Hemmings a starting spot against Ayr after the striker signed on for his second spell at the club on Thursday.
That decision meant Nelson dropped to the bench with the manager admitting it had been a tough call to make.
McPake said: “Andy probably feels hard done by.
“I had a front two that didn’t include him and that’s no reflection on Andy who has had a good pre-season.
“It was a tough decision to leave him out.
“But I really love working with Andy. You get everything from him and he showed that again for how long he was on the park here.
“His goal was great, a brilliant header. There’s so much more to come from him. We know he can make a massive contribution with goals allied to his overall play.
“We’re just delighted to get off the mark. It was a tough, tough game. Ayr a very dangerous side.
“We’re going to need this grit and determination. We’re going to have a lot of teams coming to Dens and trying to frustrate us, and I felt we handled that well.”
