I am fully aware that the following sentence will curse Dundee, and for that, I’m really sorry.

We’re finishing top six.

For a club with what we’ll euphemistically describe as an interesting history in the top tier, and a side freshly put together this summer following promotion, this might seem a bold claim to make. However, that is all the evidence that can be put forward by the skeptics. By any other metric, everything points to a successful conclusion to Dundee’s season that might even involve European qualification.

Let us consider some facts and figures. Dundee are the league’s top goal scorers outside of the Old Firm, with contributions spread throughout the team rather than a single talismanic target man. We have kept eight clean sheets - already surpassing every other top-tier season for over 20 years - and can now look forward to the return of several first-choice defenders in the coming weeks to top up that tally. We sit five points clear of seventh with 24 left to play for.

Plenty of fans will dismiss this, though, and say “ah, just wait until Hibs and Aberdeen get going”. Well, we have waited all season, and neither side looks like turning the considerable means at their disposal into a decent run of form. As numerous clubs through the years have shown, being a big name with big resources is only half the battle, and those two sides have consistently failed to rise to the occasion.

There is a small voice inside my head voicing caution at this confidence. After all, we still have to play Aberdeen twice as well as travelling to Leith this weekend, all of which will present opportunities to narrow the gap. However, the pressure in each of those fixtures will rest on those sides rather than the dark blues, who with every week have impressed me even more.

The victory over Ross County was emblematic of the progress we’ve made in such a short space of time. Our passing was often one-touch, slick, easily moving between the lines and posing the Dingwall side no end of headaches. Docherty’s initial commitment to playing 3-5-2 has now evolved, and the 4-3-3 deployed at the weekend perhaps made the most of the players at his disposal. It found roles for Scott Tiffoney, who took his brace well after a difficult start to life at Dens, and Dara Costelloe, freed from the shackles of defensive duties and therefore able to concentrate on keeping County occupied.

For me, though, the two most impressive performances came from Aaron Donnelly and Mo Sylla. Plaudits this season have quite rightly rained down on the likes of Carson, Beck and McCowan, but these two have flown under the radar and will be important players for the run-in to the split. Donnelly had to wait for injuries in the back line to get his chance before picking up an injury himself. On Saturday, we were reminded of what we’d been missing as the Forest loanee put in a solid defensive display reminiscent of a young Jack Hendry, clearing everything that came his way as well as not being afraid to take the ball out from the back and play.

His industry was matched by the work of Mo Sylla in the middle of the park. A permanent signing from the lower leagues in England, Sylla initially struggled to break into the side, such was the form of Malachi Boateng. However, in recent weeks he has given Docherty a real selection headache and after his performance at the weekend he surely cannot be dropped. He was everywhere, all at once, displaying deceptive pace and a steely approach to marshalling the match from the centre circle, doing the work of what felt like several men at once. No wonder he’s been dubbed the Derry Vieira!

Saturday’s victory was also important for dispelling any lingering fears among the Eeyores in our support about a swift return to the Championship. Arithmetically, of course, anything remains possible, but in practice it would take a cataclysmic collapse and an equally dramatic improvement from either of the bottom two for us to be dragged into that unwelcome conversation. If it wasn’t for a late Killie equaliser at Parkhead, the weekend’s results would have been absolutely perfect, and we can now legitimately think more about keeping in touch with Killie and St Mirren and trying to reel at least one of them in. Avoid defeat in Leith this weekend and even the Chicken Littles in the Bobby Cox might think this way too.