Dundee manager Mark McGhee has told his side to play in the present and not be overawed by the implications of results as they prepare to host Hibernian.

A 4-0 defeat to Livingston in McGhee’s first home game in charge on Saturday left Dundee two points adrift of St Johnstone at the bottom of the cinch Premiership.

Wins over Hearts and Peterhead, the latter in the Scottish Cup, had lifted confidence before James McPake was sacked, and Dundee almost took a point from Celtic Park in McGhee’s first game in charge.

And the 64-year-old stressed that his players cannot allow negative thoughts to dominate following Saturday’s shocker.

McGhee said: “Anything can happen between now and the end of the season. We are only two points behind St Johnstone, we are preparing in every way possible, all the contingency plans are getting put in place.

“The players need to produce results and performances again before they can get onside with the supporters.

“There’s been a little bit of a disappointment about this season, especially after earning promotion last year.

“There’s been a certain lethargy about our play this year. The main message from myself and the coaching staff is play the game irrespective of the implications that come our way.

“It’s about playing in the present. We’ve got to make sure that we are keeping our head above water and try and grab a win from somewhere, we have an emotion and a determination to grab results from now which hopefully guarantees Premiership football for another season.”

Midfielder Paul McGowan called for more fight from his team-mates following Saturday’s capitulation.

McGowan said: “I don’t think Livi will get an easier game this season. We were the home team on Saturday and the criticism that we got was justified and it wasn’t good enough from anyone that was on the park at the weekend.

“It’s hard to look at something specific and say that’s what went wrong, we just weren’t at it and we can’t just make excuses, it’s important we get a reaction against Hibs, nobody did themselves justice.

“We let ourselves and the club down, we rolled over too easily for my liking. There is no hiding from the fact that we are in a relegation fight, we need to move on and show more about us.

“It isn’t going to be pretty, we need to make it hard and repeat what we did against the likes of Hearts and Celtic, we need to show more about us.

“The buck stops with the players. We’ve recently lost a manager and a new one has come in, we aim to make this a difficult place to play, we never showed bottle on Saturday and it’s unacceptable.

“It’s way below the standards we’ve been showing, the criticism from the fans is justified.”