Dundee striker Colin Nish carefully avoided the ‘must-win game’ trap as he looked ahead to the home clash against Ross County.
Given the Dark Blues’ position at the bottom of the SPL 14 points adrift of second-bottom St Mirren and 15 behind County it is not rocket science to say they are up against it.
Rather than raise the spectre of relegation, though, Nish preferred to focus on building upon the excellent 5-1 win over Morton in the Scottish Cup last Sunday.
“It’s always funny when it comes to games like this,” he said.
“You don’t want to say it’s too important just in case it doesn’t go to plan.
“But Ross County are just above us in the league and we’re going to have to try to win some games and go on a wee run.
“I think we need to win every game we go out with the intention to win every game and we’ll go out in the same frame of mind for this one.”
Nish believes the secret to success over the Staggies will be blocking out all the stresses and strains that come with being stuck at the bottom of the table.
“You don’t want to put extra pressure on yourself that doesn’t need to be there,” he said.
“We go out every week to try and win but there has been that bit of pressure on us every week. That will be there until the end of the season so you have to learn to deal with it.
“Maybe we can take confidence from last weekend when we scored a few goals.”
Nish was the victim of some boo boys during the Morton match but he responded to that by scoring one of the Dark Blues’ goals. It was his third of the season and he is looking to kick on now.
He said: “It is not through lack of trying from anyone and we haven’t had the luck of the green in front of goal at times.
“I would like to score goals from my own point of view but everyone in the team needs to score we all need to chip in.”
As for the verbal volleys from a section of the support, Nish said he was oblivious to it and it wouldn’t have got to him even if he had heard it.
“I didn’t know I was getting any stick, to be honest,” added Nish.
Manager Barry Smith, who this week argued that Nish should be given more credit for his contribution to the cause, also played down the significance of the fixture to Dundee’s survival hopes.
“I see this as another game,” said Smith.
“There is no point in distinguishing one game from another because we need to pick up three points, whether it be this match or next week.”