Dundee manager Tony Docherty hailed the character of his injury-ravaged side as they battled to a hard-fought 2-1 victory over St Mirren at the SMiSA Stadium.
A pair of Simon Murray headers – either side of a goal from St Mirren’s Towosi Olusanya – gave Dundee a much-needed win after three straight defeats in the league.
The victory was even more impressive after Dundee lost centre-backs Billy Koumetio and Jordan McGhee to injury after 22 minutes.
With Antonio Portales ruled out for six weeks and fellow defenders Clark Robertson and Joe Shaughnessy also still out, the Dens Park side have had their fair share of misfortune with injuries and Docherty was delighted with how his side coped with the adversity.
He said: “The main feeling I have at the moment is one of real pride in my players.
“It was well-documented before the game that we lost Anthony Portales, so that’s six experienced players missing and players that would arguably play in any top-six team.
“Picking up two injuries early in the game, I think the easiest thing to do as a group of players is to feel sorry for ourselves, but I saw a group of players who were the absolute opposite of that.
“It’s not the way we always want to win the game, but it’s important that we can play that way and we can win ugly.
“As a manager you can improve players technically, you can work on the training field and you can do analyse, but you can’t put that mentality into them and that spirit.
“Spirit in a dressing room isn’t all about getting along and going on nights out, it’s about that type of performance, digging in for one another.
“They’re knackered in there and everyone of them has given everything. It’s pleasing to be the manager of that group and it doesn’t surprise me because they’ve done it time and time again when there’s been a question of them and there was a question today.
“I said to them I would see a lot in the performance about mentality and I saw resilience, spirit and mentality that allowed us to come to a difficult place against a good team and take all three points.”
The Dundee boss also praised top scorer Murray, who got on the scoresheet for the first time since early November.
He added: “He was brilliant and that is what Simon Murray is. That’s why I went to great lengths to get him. He’s a great personality and an inspirational figure for us.
“No one puts themselves under more pressure than Simon because it’s his team and he feels that leadership responsibility.
“I couldn’t be more pleased for him getting his two goals and two really good striker goals.”
St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson, meanwhile, admitted fatigue was a factor after their run of three straight victories came to an end.
He said: “There wasn’t a whole lot in the game. Dundee were very direct and played the conditions which you have to respect.
“We are really disappointed with the two goals. They’re very poor to concede. It’s things we work on and we’ve lost too many games to the fine lines.
“It’s frustrating because we could have gone and cemented our place in the top six and we’ve not managed to do that.
“A few players looked a bit tired today from the exertions of the other night against Rangers, but we still had the quality and energy to go and win the game.
“We did OK in the game, but it wasn’t good enough on the day. We’ve got to learn that games like this, you’ve got to get a point out of it.
“But also I don’t want to take away from the fact that it’s been a fantastic 2024. We managed to finish in Europe, we have to remember that and we’re now ahead of where we were this time last year.”
