Tony Docherty challenges Dundee to hold onto top-six Premiership place

Tony Docherty watched his Dundee side move into the top six of the William Hill Premiership in midweek and challenged them to remain there.

The Dens Park side were in fine form as they swept Motherwell aside in a 4-1 home win which sees them in fifth place, above the Steelmen on goal difference.

Docherty, preparing to take on bottom side Hearts at Tynecastle on Saturday, said: “It is important, the real challenge to players was to get themselves winning games to get themselves in that top six.

“The challenge now is keeping yourself there. And I feel they’re a strong, strong squad together.

“There’s a good mentality. Watch the way they celebrate goals, it’s everybody together.

“So I can feel a real kind of strength within the squad and a real resolve and a real willingness, that that mentality will take us forward, and they’ve got themselves in a good position now.

“But if I know them like I do, and I know the strength of that dressing room, they want to stay there and they’ll do all they can.

“I see them on a daily basis, they’ll do all they can to make sure their performances, individually and collectively, give them the chance to be that top-six team.

“So we’ve got ourselves in a good position now. It’s just now make sure we keep the momentum and try maintain that.”

The Jambos drew 1-1 at home to Aberdeen but have not won in five games and are bottom of the table, two points behind Edinburgh rivals Hibernian.

Dundee won 3-1 when the two sides met at Dens Park in August but Docherty believes they are a better side under new boss Neil Critchley.

He said: “Neil’s been in now for 10 games, and you can see from watching the recent matches he’s putting his stamp, and he’s formulating the game plan, the formation system that he wants to play.

“So you can see that clearly. But I can’t focus on anything but my own team.

“Of course, I’ll always give the greatest respect for our opponents. We’ll always do as much analysis as we can on them.

“We’ll observe what their strengths are, what their weaknesses are, and we’ll execute a game plan accordingly.

“But very much, it’s about my full focus being on our team.

“We’re in a good place at the moment in terms of the form guide. We’re sitting, over the last six games, third, behind Celtic and Rangers.

“And there’s a lot of things we need to do right to come away with the result.

“Hearts have got a lot of really good players. It’s a kind of an intimidating stadium, but I think it can be a really good stadium to play in as the away team.

“But there’s a lot of things we need to do right, and try to execute that game plan to give us the best opportunity to pick up maximum points.”