Dundee boss Paul Hartley has told his players to forget about their Old Firm double-header…for now.
The Dark Blues can look forward to two trips to Glasgow next week, when they face Celtic in the league on Wednesday then Rangers in the William Hill Scottish Cup quarter-final the following Saturday.
It is a delightful or daunting prospect – or perhaps both – for the players but Hartley has told them to only start thinking about that after tomorrow’s home Premiership clash with Inverness Caley Thistle.
The seventh-placed Highlanders sit just two points behind the sixth-placed Dens men in the table so the significance of this match is there for all to see.
Therefore, it was right for the Dundee boss to stress that this fixture is something more than the mere calm before the Old Firm storm.
Hartley said: “It’s been a long time since any team went to Parkhead and Ibrox in successive games but we can’t afford to look too far ahead.
“We want to look forward to it but we also need to remind ourselves just how important the Inverness game is for us because we want to stay in the top six.
“We have to realise that we need to get a really positive result and make sure the mood in the camp is good next week.
“When you win on a Saturday it’s always better for everyone coming into work on a Monday and we want that.
“We’re playing against an Inverness side who are playing well, beat Aberdeen recently and played very well at Parkhead last week.
“Inverness is a massive game because of where we are in the league and with just two points between us.
“The league is so tight with just eight points between fourth and 11th spot so we want to try and stay away from the bottom end of the table and push right up.
“Partick Thistle, who have games in hand, got a good result against St Johnstone on Tuesday and it’s very congested so we’ve got to look at that. |
“This is a really important game for us in terms of being in the top six and trying to stay in there.
“They are a pretty focused bunch of players here, though, and after Saturday is the time when all the focus will be on next week.”
Meanwhile, Hartley is edging ever closer to securing Inverness pair James Vincent and Danny Williams on pre-contract deals.
He confirmed: “We’ve spoken to the representative of both players and hope to tie something up with both of them in the next few days but it’s important to focus on this match first.”