Dundee must find 'best performance of the season' to beat Hearts, says Pressley

Steven Pressley claims Dundee have to find their “best performance of the season” to beat William Hill Premiership leaders Hearts at Tynecastle on Saturday.

The Taysiders are on a high after coming back from 2-0 down against Dundee United last weekend to secure a 2-2 draw with two dramatic stoppage-time goals.

For their part, the Gorgie side’s lead over Celtic at the top of the table was reduced to two points after Kilmarnock’s Michael Schjonning-Larsen scored the only goal of the game at Rugby Park on Saturday night.

Pressley is not buying into the notion that it is a good time to get Derek McInnes’ side, who, with eight games remaining, are being hunted down by the reigning champions and Rangers

The former Jambos captain said: “I am not sure about that.

“With the result last week against Kilmarnock, they will be a wounded animal. They’re at home. They have the best home form in the league, and they’ll be determined to get back on track.

“The one thing that we need to be ready for is a very, very determined Hearts team who are very good at home.

“So, it’s going to take, in my opinion, our best performance of the season to win at Tynecastle this weekend. That’s how big a challenge this weekend is.

“The stats will tell you, they’re unbeaten at home, but also after the disappointment of last week, the importance of them getting back on track, the intensity in and around the stadium, I think it’ll take our best performance of the season to win at Tynecastle.

“We need to go a step beyond anything that we’ve produced this season.

“It’s going to take a mammoth effort but the players have proved that when asked that question before, they’ve come up with, at times, an incredible answer. But it’s going to take that again.”

While Dundee face Hearts and Celtic before the international break which means they can have a say in where the title goes, Pressley is concerned only with Dundee’s safety.

The Dens Park side are in eighth place with 32 points, six points ahead of Killie who are in the relegation play-off spot, and he is looking for at least two more wins.

Pressley said: “The one thing I do like is the fact that we have a very competitive title race, something that our game has been craving for a long, long time.

“But we have got our own job to do, and that’s to survive and at present we are several wins away from being safe.

“Only eight games (to go) and you look at the games, there’s a lot of tough games in amongst it.

“Two wins is hard to achieve. So, first and foremost, we have to concern ourselves with trying to get closer to that this weekend.”