KANE HEMMINGS, the Dundee striker, has told Dundee United they can ill-afford to write them off as being underdogs for this week's derby doesn't perturb them in the slightest.
James McPake’s side are preparing for the short walk down to Tannadice for Friday night’s televised encounter with city rivals United who’ve been in quite rampant form since the Championship campaign got underway.
The Tangerines have so far stormed to three straight league wins with prolific striker Lawrence Shankland running riot once more with both goals in their 2-0 win away to Dunfermline at the weekend.
It means Robbie Neilson’s United, who were widely tipped during pre-season to process towards the title, are favourites to earn the bragging rights when the old adversaries go head-to-head later this week in front of the live cameras.
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But Dundee hitman Hemmings, who returned to Dens Park from Notts County earlier this month for his second spell on Tayside, believes being written off can work in their favour as they strive to topple the league leaders and reduce their gap at the top of the table to just a point.
Hemmings said: “Yes, it can do. They [United] are in red-hot form. They have won their first three games and they will probably go into the derby expecting to put us to bed.
“But we are not bothered about that. We just have to take care of ourselves and we will go down there with a game plan that we know can win us the match. We will be confident that we can do so. If we win on Friday, we will only be a point behind them again.
“First and foremost, we will obviously recover and then put the work in this week to get ready. It is something we are all looking forward to.
“It is one of those games that it is a given that performances and the tempo will be raised due to the importance of it. I think it will take care of itself.”
Dundee were hoping for a morale-boosting win ahead of Friday’s showdown, but found John Robertson’s Inverness a tough nut to crack as they struggled to hit the heights of the previous weekend when they took Aberdeen all the way to extra-time in their Betfred Cup last 16 tie, only to go down 2-1 in agonising fashion.
Hemmings, who won a move to Oxford United in 2016 on the back of an impressive goal-spree for Dundee, knows what it’s like to savour glory in the derby.
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The popular forward, 27, is sure they’ll have no problem eradicating Saturday’s sloppy display out of their system.
“I played in a lot of derbies over the years and it is a very good one to play in," reflected Hemmings.
“It is also a good one to come out on top in so we will look forward to the game. As for Saturday, we didn't play all that well so we know we can do a lot better."
Meanwhile, James Keatings insists Inverness are capable of mounting their own title challenge.
“Since I have come here the manager has put that on us straight away, to show we are a good team and just as good as the favourites," stated Keatings.
“I feel we have a good bunch of boys and I don’t think we have shown how good we actually are yet.”
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