Hartley's men will show no fear
Dundee manager Paul Hartley insists his side will go into Saturday's Scottish Premiership match against second-top Inverness at Dens Park holding no fears.
The Dark Blues welcome John Hughes' Caley Thistle side to Tayside expecting a tough encounter with the Highlanders, who have surprised their fair share of people with their league position so far this season.
But Dundee, fresh from last weekend's morale-boosting Scottish Cup win over Aberdeen, will approach the match confident of taking the three points.
Hartley said: "We're really looking forward to Inverness coming here.
"We'll respect them of course as we do every team but there will be no fear on our part.
"We've proved this season that we can hold our own against the best teams so that should give our players confidence.
"Inverness like to knock the ball about and so do we, so it has the makings of being a good game.
"It's our home game and we will look to take the game to them.
"That's what we've been doing this season and that's something which won't change."
Hartley insists his players cannot wait for a return to Premiership matters following their last-gasp win over Aberdeen in last Saturday's televised tie.
He said: "We've trained really well this week after beating Aberdeen. There's a good buzz about the place. That's always the case after a win like that and there's been a good atmosphere all season to be fair.
"But it's back to league business now. This is another big test but it's one we're approaching with confidence."
Meanwhile, Dundee are without midfielder Paul McGowan who has a knee injury which will keep him out for the next week.
He is joined by striker Peter MacDonald who is recovering from a knee problem. Goalkeeper Kyle Letheren is recovering from knee surgery so Scott Bain continues between the sticks.
Inverness travel to Dundee on Saturday looking to keep the pressure on Premiership leaders Celtic but Ross Draper insists simply surviving in the top-flight is the "number one goal" for the Highlanders every season.
Caley's impressive start to the campaign has taken them three points behind the champions and they also booked their place in the William Hill Scottish Cup quarter-final on Tuesday night with a convincing 4-0 replay win over St Mirren.
However, while John Hughes' side ride the crest of a wave, Draper revealed an ambition which he admits appears laughable.
The 26-year-old midfielder, who signed for Inverness in the summer of 2012 after leaving Macclesfield Town, said: "We need to make sure that we get enough points to survive and stay in the league.
"That is the number one goal. A lot of people will laugh at that and say you should have bigger ambitions but we are the same as any other club in the league; to drop down to the Championship would be a disaster.
"So we need to make sure that we pick up enough points as soon as possible to make sure that doesn't happen and then as you go on from there you set your own targets.
"We need to make sure our standards remain throughout this whole season.
"It is so easy to have a good couple of results in this league and then get beat and you have another bad couple of results and come back.
"And it's the consistency that a lot of clubs struggle with and we have been guilty of it for a couple of seasons.
"We got off to a flier last season and then fell away towards the end and the year before that we didn't have a great start and then went 19 or 20 games unbeaten so we want to keep the consistency going.
"That is the main thing and hopefully it will give us the top-six finish that we want."
Inverness assistant manager Russell Latapy praised Dundee for being a "fantastic addition" to the Premiership this season, the second game of which saw them take a point against Caley in a goalless draw in the Highlands.
He said: "Under Paul Hartley they have been organised and their game here was a really tight, cagey game.
"They have gone on to amass 20 points so far which is fantastic for a team that has come back into the Premiership.
"We are looking forward to the game.
"We are on a good run of form, we have been passing the ball well and creating chances and look forward to doing the same down there and hopefully taking some of the chances."
Source: PA
