Dundee 1
Kilmarnock 2
League (Premier League)

Manager's Programme Notes

Whilst conceding that the performance at Pittodrie on Tuesday evening was not of the best, which may well have been down to nerves given the importance of the fixture, but the result more than compensated for that.

Javier Artero's late winner saw us jump two places in the league and put a bit of daylight between ourselves and Aberdeen at the foot of the table.

Perhaps now, we can approach our last five games in a more relaxed mood and emulate last season's top-half finish.

Whilst our away form has been very good all season, as you know, that hasn't exactly been the case here at Dens. Thankfully, however, our last home fixture against Motherwell produced a long overdue. home success and, hopefully. sets us up nicely for the four home games that remain.

Not only was the result against Motherwell very pleasing, because there were times during that game when our performance was very good. However, again our failure to keep the opposition from scoring was very disappointing. Especially when you take into account that Motherwell only had one shot at goal the first half, and that was enough to give them an interval lead.

However, in the second half, we were excellent. James Grady put us back on level terms and, in no time at all, had given us the lead. Two more goals followed as we showed a lot of attacking options. Overall, apart from finding the net four times, we had a whole host of attempts on goal, something which, at times this season, has been sadly lacking in games at Dens Park.

Following on from that fine win over Motherwell, we headed to Celtic Park which has never been a happy hunting ground for us. For once we got off to a great start, securing an early goal, but that same old lack of belief which seems to bedevil us in these type of games crept in, allowing Celtic to get back into the game. We paid the penalty for this, because by the interval, we found ourselves trailing.

All credit to the players, however, because their display in the second half, merited at least the draw with which we came away from Parkhead.

As I have said so often in the Press, there is very little, if anything, between the eight clubs outside of the Old Firm and recent results and performances have only served to endorse that view,

Kilmarnock, our visitors this afternoon, for example, are one of the better footballing teams in the league, but have failed to reach the same heights and standards which they achieved last term. Recently, however, they have had a run of three home wins which opened up a bit of a gap between themselves and Aberdeen and brought them within touching distance of ourselves, easing the pressure on both of us.

Because of this. I anticipate a good game, and hope that we can maintain our unbeaten record against Killie this season to continue our climb up the table.