The Dens Park side are two points adrift at the bottom of the league and host third-placed Aberdeen on Saturday.

Jim McIntyre's men have lost their past six matches and won just once in 11.

"As a group we will deal with it, and hopefully we can start picking up much needed wins," said O'Dea, 32.

"The mood is okay. It has been a tough run, but we have been on tough runs before, and the only way to get out of it is to keep going and working as hard as you can.

"We have been under pressure, but we are under enormous pressure now."

Saturday's fixtures are the last top-flight games before the Premiership split and Dundee will play nearest challengers St Mirren and 10th-placed Hamilton Academical before the end of the season, with Accies currently four points clear of the Paisley side.

"We can't keep saying, 'someone is near us, something is going to drop eventually, someone is going to pick up results and we need it to be us'," said O'Dea.

"Considering the season that we have had, that we are not cut adrift is a positive, but ultimately it will be in our hands. Regardless of what everyone else is doing, we need to dramatically improve our results.

"There are going to be moments in games where it is going to be horrible, there are going to be edgy moments now, so the older and more senior players need to shoulder the responsibility."