Matt Lockwood is convinced Dundee are on the verge of giving a team a real going over hopefully against Livingston tonight.
The Dark Blues were installed as short-odds favourites to bounce straight back into the Scottish top tier this season, but they have made a stuttering start to the campaign.
However, veteran defender Lockwood insists the team are really starting to click into gear and if they can create chances like they did in the extra-time win against Forfar in the league Cup in midweek the goals will soon start to flow.
He said: “We feel as though it’s coming. It was a struggle against Forfar but on another night we could easily have been out of sight early on with the amount of chances we created.
“The key is to get our noses in front early doors and take a bit of the pressure off us. If we can do that, then it would definitely make a big difference.
“All it takes is an early goal and hopefully we wouldn’t look back because we have the players to give the opposition a hard time.”
The favourites tag also comes with the added pressure for the Dundee players of knowing that they are the side every other team in the Championship wants to beat. Lockwood says that is a factor the Dundee players have to cope with, especially when playing at home.
He said: “We are a scalp for other teams this season, which is something we’ve just got to deal with. Livingston will come here looking to put one over us and they’ll get a lift coming to our place to play.
“So we know we’ll be in for a tough game. It can take a bit of time to get used to that but I think we all know we’re there to be shot at.”
He is backing them to get it right when they head to Pittodrie to take on Aberdeen, the side managed by ex-McDiarmid gaffer Derek McInnes.
Wright said: “I felt we looked flat against United but the lads have come back in this week and have been flying.
“When we have had disappointments in the past we have always bounced back from them and that is what we’ll look to do this weekend.
“There has been no knee-jerk reaction. We lost 4-0 but it was just a bad day from us.
“And looking back at the game we still got into the last third of their pitch a lot. United made more use of the opportunities they had but we still had opportunities of our own.
“Aberdeen have had a good start to the season but lost to Hearts last weekend so they’ll be the same as us.
“We’ve both had decent starts to the season and it should be a cracking game. Derek knows a lot of our players and speaks very highly of them.
“He signed guys like Dave Mackay, Murray Davidson, Frazer Wright and Chris Millar but sometimes guys like playing against your old manager.”