Dundee boss Paul Hartley believes the presence of on-loan Motherwell defender Adam Cummins is keeping his first-choice centre-half pairing on their toes.
The player, who has just turned 21, joined the Dark Blues at the start of January but has yet to feature for the first-team with Declan Gallagher and Kyle Benedictus having established a successful partnership.
Cummins wasn’t available for last Saturday’s victory over Morton because of injury but his manager is expecting him to continue to battle for a place once he recovers.
Hartley said: “Adam hurt his groin which is why he missed out on Saturday. He has come here on loan but our two centre-halves are doing well so he has to fight for his place like everyone.
“Iain Davidson can play there as well although I see him more as a midfielder. But the two centre-halves know that they need to continue to do well.
“Benedictus has actually picked up a wee knock as has Gary Irvine and they didn’t train on Tuesday. So while I would have liked to have had a game this weekend, the break will give us a chance to look after them.”
Hartley has won successive promotions in the last two seasons with previous club Alloa. Having been there and done that, the manager is fully aware of what he needs to do to make it a hat-trick with the table-topping Dark Blues.
He insists that with 10 games remaining, his players cannot afford to get too far ahead of themselves.
Hartley added: “I know what it is like to be promoted. The next big game for us is against Livingston but every one is important.
“I realise it is a cliche but we are just taking it one game at a time. We need to keep the players focused. We will try to ensure everything is low-key and we just continue winning games.
“We are in the mix now with 10 games to go and we want to be in a same position with a couple left.”