Tony Docherty is optimistic about Dundee's top six prospects as they gear up for their upcoming home match against Motherwell.

Following a 2-1 victory against Tayside rivals St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park last weekend, Docherty believes the team is in excellent form, having secured seven points out of a possible nine in March.

Dundee sit sixth in the Scottish Premiership table, with three fixtures remaining before the split. They currently hold a one-point lead over Hibernian, having played a game less, and the Dark Blues boss insists he’s confident they can keep up their impressive form when Motherwell arrive at Dens Park on Saturday.

He said: “We are confident. We have had a good March. It took an injury-time equaliser for Kilmarnock to stop us getting three wins in March, nine points out of nine.

“But to take seven out of nine against that level of opposition, of course we have to be buoyed by that and I am really pleased with the level of consistency from the players in that period and throughout.

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“I think the boys are in a brilliant place just now and what I would say is they are such a brilliant group to work with, any challenge put ahead of them they put their all into it and they are getting their rewards.

“I would say we are in a really good place, we are very confident but we are not complacent or getting ahead of ourselves.

“The next game is the most important game which is Motherwell on Saturday and we have prepared for that and look forward to the game.

“We have had two draws against them, they are a good side. We are under no illusions as to how difficult a game it is going to be but as I said, we are in a good place and we take that into Saturday’s game.”

While a top-six finish is in Dundee’s hands, as it stands, Docherty was keen to stress that the main priority is still to remain in the league - with the Tayside club embarking on their first campaign back in the top-flight. 

He said: “My objective throughout is to make sure as a newly-promoted team, we must make sure the first objective is to retain top-flight status and that is still our number one objective.

“Saturday’s result was great because it moved us further away from the bottom, we are 11 ahead of St Johnstone and 12 ahead of Ross County (in relegation play-off spot) but we are not getting carried away.

“The next game against Motherwell is huge, if we can take points out of that we can maybe look at other objectives but for now the main priority is to make sure we maintain our Premiership status.”