Dundee boss John Brown admits his team should be sitting prettier at the top of the table than they currently are.
But the Dark Blues manager is delighted his team is looking down on the rest heading into the season’s final few months and has challenged his players to create some daylight between them and their title rivals.
Brown’s men head into this weekend’s round of fixtures two points clear of Hamilton and seven in front of third-placed Falkirk and are looking to extend those gaps as soon as possible.
“We could have done with more points because we have let ourselves down on a few occasions,” Brown said.
“But we’re halfway through the season and are top of the league, so we need to kick on from here.
“I’m reasonably happy with what we’ve done. If we strengthen going into this half of the season it will be a really big thing for us. We want to keep this impetus going and freshening it up will do that.”
Dundee prepare to host Livingston on Saturday and Brown knows that every game between now and the campaign’s climax will bring its own challenges.
He said: “This is the most competitive league by far. I was at Hamilton against Queen of the South on Saturday and it could have been 5-4 either way.
“It’s such a hard league because every single team has something to play for.
“Morton are a bit stretched at the bottom at the moment, but it just takes two or three victories like Jimmy Nicholl has got at Cowdenbeath, because they realise it’s probably worth £200,000-£300,000 with the teams who will be in the Championship next year. With the title, the play-offs and then the play-offs at the bottom, every single point is crucial.
“So there are no easy games. We have Livingston, Hamilton, Alloa and Falkirk in the next few weeks.
“It’s huge for us, and by the end of this month we’ll have a fair bearing where we stand. The Raith result was a big one because it created a gap between us and them.
“Now we have all the teams around us and we’ve got to maintain what we’ve been doing. A lot of it is down to how psychologically strong you are do you have the mentality to go out and win it?
“There is not much between a lot of the teams, it comes down to who wants it and who is able to go out there and take it.”