Dundee keeper Kyle Letheren reckons Saturday’s “smash and grab” success at Dumbarton proves they have the stomach for the title run-in.
It was far from a vintage showing by the Dark Blues at the Bet Butler Stadium, but Paul Hartley’s men ground out the 1-0 victory needed to keep them on top of the Championship.
And with just seven games remaining, Letheren believes Dundee will not buckle under the pressure.
“Before the last two games we’ve been flying, so you are going to have performances like that,” he said of the team’s efforts at Dumbarton.
“But if you go out there, play bad and win, I think it’s the sign of champions because Falkirk and Hamilton have gone to Dumbarton this year and lost.
“It was a massive three points for us.You are going to have games where you are going to come out and you are not going to perform, but the most important thing is the result.
“We’ve got the result and that’s all that matters now. We’ll take seven more of them, as long as we win.
“It’s in our own hands and nobody else can take this title away from us apart from ourselves.”
Letheren concedes Dundee were lucky to reach the interval level on Saturday after the Sons saw a ‘goal’ chalked off.
However, he insists the trip west was all about notching another victory by hook or by crook.
He continued: “We know we’ve got to play better we can’t perform like we did first half.
“Dumbarton came out first half and gave it a right good go, and we were a bit fortunate from the referee with the disallowed goal.
“But they came at us and we were lucky to go in at half-time at 0-0 because we knew we had to come out second half and play better, which I thought we did.
“It was a smash and grab, in a way.”
Dundee boss Hartley was no doubt a relieved man to see his side take maximum points from the weekend’s fixture.
“We struggled for chances all afternoon, so in terms of that I know we can play a lot better,” he said.
“But sometimes at this stage of the season it’s about getting three points and finding a way how to do it.
“I just told the players at half-time they needed to be better. It wasn’t acceptable, and I told them: ‘You are at the top of the league, you should enjoy it.
“‘You are trying to win a title, so you’ve got to be better than that’.
“Every game is going to be tough between now and the end of the season, so we have to play better than that,” Hartley added.
“In terms of the first 45 minutes it was not acceptable.”