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With the pressure on at either end of the table, Friday night’s encounter at Dens Park is a crucial one for both sides.

Dundee go into it knowing a win could put them within touching distance of promotion, with rivals Queen’s Park making the trip to Morton the following afternoon, while for us, survival is the name of the game, and a positive result will pile the pressure on Arbroath ahead of their weekend meeting with Partick Thistle in Glasgow.

Dick Campbell’s side then finish off with a home head-to-head against relegation rivals Hamilton, a match they will hope to render meaningless by returning with something from Firhill.

Cove can do nothing about that, all the team’s focus has been on our penultimate outing of the Championship season, but Paul Hartley will go into it with an even more depleted squad than of late.

With Fraser Fyvie, Brody Paterson, Blair Yule and Miko Virtanen all long since ruled out for the remainder of the campaign, Michael O’Halloran and Leighton McIntosh have been added to the casualty list after first half injuries during last week’s victory at Gayfield. On the plus side, Shay Logan should be back in the squad.

It is a crisis the gaffer could have done without, especially at this stage of the run-in, and one which he says is unprecedented during his time in the dugout:

“It is undoubtedly the worst injury crisis I have experienced in twelve to thirteen years in management, and with all those players out, we’re unlikely to have more than four or five on the bench.

“It does make life more difficult, and it means I’ll have very few options to change things around. We certainly have to hope there aren’t any more injuries on the night.”

Club captain Mitch Megginson is one of a number of players who have been giving their all in recent weeks despite not being fully fit, and he, as much as anyone, knows what staying up would mean to the club:

“We worked so hard to get to the Championship, and it would be massive to stay up given everything that has been thrown at us throughout the campaign.

“It was always going to be a difficult season, but the upheaval, the changes and all the injuries have made it even harder. We went through a spell there where we just couldn’t get a result, nothing went our way, and I said a few weeks ago that I felt that had to turn at some point.

“The win at Arbroath was much-needed and it could have a massive impact on what happens from here on in. Dundee will be tough, and it may have to be a backs to the wall performance, but we have the belief, and our fate is at least partly in our own hands now.

“If we start strong and positively, and make them nervous given what’s at stake for them, that could play out well for us. A point or points will put real pressure on Arbroath, and especially Hamilton, and that would set us up nicely for the final game.”

Whatever the outcome at Dens, our fate will not be decided until the season-closer against Morton at Balmoral Stadium next Friday, and that has been Paul’s target since it became clear we would be battling for survival:

“We always wanted to take it to the last game, and we’ve done that, we’ve given ourselves a chance. There will be a big crowd, it will be a terrific atmosphere, and the players need to go out and embrace that.

“I obviously know what it’s like at Dundee, and there will be pressure on them going for the title. They will have a fanatic support there, but if we can frustrate them, give them something to think about, then the crowd can turn, and we would look to capitalise on that.

“No-one outside the club expects us to win, but despite all the selection issues, I know we can still do it. Strange things happen in the Championship, it’s a crazy league, and there may yet be a twist or two before everything is decided.

“If the players go out with the same commitment and determination that I got from them at Arbroath, we still have a real chance of survival.”

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