Dundee 2
Heart of Midlothian 1
League (Premier Division)

Manager's Programme Notes

Our present situation brought about by recent results obviously means that we can't be too bright about things.

Our latest disappointment at the hands of St. Mirren last week illustrated once again that there is no easy answer to our problems but you can rest assured that we are trying to put them to right from week to week.

However, we can only do so much on the training ground it's what happens on a Saturday afternoon that really matters and of late it's not been working.

That means that we must continue to apply our selves to eradicate the two major weaknesses that have been in evidence - losing too many goals at one end and not scoring as many as we should at the other. I would be the first to admit that we didn't perform at Love Street and once again we struggled to find our feet against the kind of competition we can expect from this League.

BUT IT'S NOTHING THAT A COUPLE OF VICTORIES WOULDN'T SORT OUT.

Players who come into our team just now are facing immediate challenges because of the overall loss of form. It almost goes without saying that everyone would be a lot happier - myself included - if we were able to make these changes in a team that was winning and playing well.

All our new players are now finding out about the pressures that this League can bring and I remain convinced that they'll come to terms with this and emerge better performers.

One man who certainly did everything we could ask of him against St. Mirren was goalkeeper Tom Carson. In the first half he gave us every chance to haul our selves back into the game - a lifeline that we were unable to get hold of.

But perhaps it was an indication of the way things have been going lately that we missed our best chance of the game a minute before Saints scored the winner. So instead of going ahead by 2-1 we found ourselves a goal behind.

Turning to today's visitors it's clear that some of our best performances since I came here have been against Hearts and I can only hope that today's will count amongst that number.

We're in the business of getting points and keeping our customers satisfied and we're all too aware that hasn't been happening for some time.

The supporters have given us every chance to get our act together but we know that if we don't produce the goods we'll all be in line for a hard time.

What makes our recent showings so disappointing is that for a spell earlier on in the season it appeared that we were going along quite nicely. If things have turned sour then the solution is in our own hands. And we'll continue to seek the answer today.