Lyall Cameron insists Dundee’s main focus is to avoid relegation battle

Lyall Cameron stressed that Dundee’s primary objective remains to ensure they are not dragged into a relegation scrap even though he feels they have been performing well enough to be sitting higher than seventh in the cinch Premiership.

The Dark Blues have made an encouraging start since returning to the top flight this term with only four defeats in their 14 league matches, while they were enjoying a rare spell in the top six until Kilmarnock leapfrogged them in midweek.

However, Cameron admits Dundee – currently eight points clear of bottom-of-the-table Livingston – are still mindful of the need to avoid letting things slip and getting sucked into relegation trouble.

“We still need to focus on getting ourselves as far away from the bottom as we can because that was the original goal for the club, to avoid relegation again,” said the Scotland Under-21 international.

“That’s still the main goal just now. I don’t think we’re clear of that just yet. We’ll keep working away from that and hopefully look towards top six after that.

“If you look at our performances and where we’ve been sitting in the table, I think we could be even higher than we are. We’ve chucked away a few points where we shouldn’t have.

“The performances have been really strong, there’s a good togetherness and I think we’re just going to keep getting better and add to our tally in the table.”

Dundee were disappointed to take just one point from their last two matches against Hibernian and Motherwell, with last weekend’s 3-3 draw at Fir Park particularly frustrating as they conceded a stoppage-time equaliser against 10 men.

The Dark Blues are aiming to get back on track against Rangers at Ibrox on Saturday, but Cameron is braced for a formidable challenge from a side that defeated them 5-0 at Dens Park just over a month ago.

“It’s hard because we know what we’re going there to face,” he said.

“They’re a good side, they’ll have the crowd behind them and they’re on a good bit of form just now. It’s not going to be easy, it never is when you go there, but we’re all looking forward to it.

“We’re always going to be the underdogs going to Ibrox, everyone is, but we’ve been in good form ourselves.

“We’ve put together some good performances and been unlucky in the last couple of weeks not to get more from the games but as long as we perform the way we have been, I think we can go there and get something.”