| That’s the opinion of Dark Blues boss Alex Rae as he prepares to take his men to the Borders for a day he knows could finally see their promotion hopes dashed.
If First Division leaders Hamilton win at home to lowly Clyde, they will be promoted, but, if they slip up and Dundee win, the issue will be decided in a last-day showdown between the top two at Dens Park next week.
Alex, though, wants his players to do their best to ignore all the permutations and simply concentrate on doing something they’ve found extremely difficult in the past — pick up three points at Palmerston.
And he does not believe their task has been made any easier by the Doonhamers’ cup heroics.
“People always think league games can be a distraction for players when they reach a cup final, but, for me, they are a chance for them to show their manager they are playing well and should be in for the final,” he said.
“It’s a few weeks until they are back at Hampden, but they have only got two competitive games to go before the final and that does not leave a lot of time for players to show they should be in the team.
“That means this is a hard game for us, but it always is down there and they’ve had a habit of turning us over.”
Since Alex took charge before the start of last season, a solitary league point is all that has been earned from four league and cup visits to Dumfries, but that record will not change the mindset for this game.
“We need to win and that is all we will be thinking about, not what’s happened there before or what is happening elsewhere.
“I’m certainly not going to be getting updates from the Hamilton game. There is no point in putting yourself through that kind of agony.
“We’ll be doing our bit first and, if we’ve got a result, we can find out what’s happened at Douglas Park at the end.”
Alex admitted the determination of midfielder Scott Robertson to prove his fitness has left him with a selection dilemma.
Robertson scored against Stirling Albion last Saturday on his return as a substitute after over a month out injured, but, earlier in the week, the manager’s opinion was he would still only be on the bench tomorrow.
“He’s pushed himself very hard in training and shown a lot of endeavour. It’s given me something to think about and I’ll speak to the medical people before I make a decision.”
Definitely back in the reckoning to start is defender David Cowan after he missed out against Stirling with a back muscle problem. |
