Steven Pressley is intent on savouring the feel-good factor developing around Dundee amid their encouraging start to the season.
The Dark Blues moved joint-top of the fledgling William Hill Premiership table after notching their second win in three league games with a 2-0 triumph away to Dundee United on Saturday – albeit with the derby being the weekend’s only fixture due to other teams’ European commitments.
Drey Wright opened the scoring with a fine strike just before the break and Owen Bevan diverted in the second in the 57th minute, leaving the huge Dee support bounding out of Tannadice in jubilant mood.
“I’ve said this many times throughout my career, I’ve not enjoyed good times enough,” said boss Pressley. “There’s no doubting that momentum is important in football, but also the feel-good factor around your club.
“To win a derby game at this stage of the season is enormous for us. Enormous. I think as well, when we consider it’s been a real transitional period from one team to the other (over the summer).
“We’ve played Celtic at Celtic Park, a really strong Aberdeen team, and then a derby at Tannadice. For us to be sitting with six points is a good return. Not a perfect return, but a good return.
"But we have to keep going.”
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United have lost their last three games in all competitions by a combined score of 10-0 and boss Jim Goodwin is mindful of the need to return with a positive result from Saturday’s trip to Kilmarnock, the only side currently below them in the table.
“I don’t think the recent results are down to a lack of effort or a lack of commitment from any of the players,” he said. “I’ve got to take responsibility on my shoulders. As the manager, I’ve signed all of these players; I’ve brought them in to Dundee United.
“I believe in every single one of them. If you look back on the key metrics that we analyse games by, I think you’ll see that we’ve probably had the better of most situations in the last couple of games in particular, but we certainly don’t have the results to show for that.
“The law of averages would say if that continues going forward and we continue to have the better of all those metrics than the opponent, then the results will change with it. That’s what my message to the players has been after the game.
“We’ve got a huge game now next week. I know that this game, ultimately, it’s all about results. As manager, I know the buck stops with me. Next Saturday is huge.
"We have to put a stop to this run of defeats, and we have to try and make sure we get a win.”
