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Dundee could prolong their Scottish Premiership relegation battle with victory over Hamilton Academical this weekend. But they will be almost certainly only be delaying the inevitable.
With just three games of the season remaining, Jim McIntyre's side need a seven-point and nine-goal swing simply to grasp the second chance of a relegation play-off place. Given they have lost nine consecutive matches, earning even one win seems fanciful enough.
When McIntyre was appointed to replace Neil McCann in October, chief executive John Nelms insisted he was the best-qualified candidate. But the numbers during his seven-month tenure are damning...
McIntyre did little to hide his disappointment when his side lost to 10-man Motherwell on Saturday and Dundee's form against the other bottom six sides has come to define their abysmal season.
In 17 league games against the sides around them, Dundee have averaged just 0.71 points per match. To put that in to context, fellow relegation battlers St Mirren and Hamilton have averaged 1.06 and 1.12 points per match respectively in the same number of matches.
When that is translated to points, it means Dundee have amassed 12 as compared to 18 and 19 respectively for St Mirren and Hamilton - a difference that almost directly translates to the distance between McIntyre's side and the two teams above them in the table.
One of the most obvious reasons for those poor results is the fact Dundee are truly awful at keeping the ball out of their own net. They have conceded more goals than any other side - 74 in 35 games and a closer look at their defensive stats demonstrates why.
So far this season, the Dens Park side have conceded an average of 14.63 shots per game. Not only is that 3.65 more than the league average but it is also the worst return in the division. Similarly, McIntyre's side are fifth in the Premiership for the percentage of shots that they manage to block.
Not only does that all contribute to an overall poor defensive record, but it also translates to 13 goals lost from outside the box this season. Once again, another tally that they surpass any other side for.
Michael Stewart analyses Dundee's 4-3 defeat by Motherwell on Sportscene
Dundee played two in midfield and [Jesse] Curran was the striker that dropped in, but look at all the space for [David] Turnbull. The defence are too slow to come up and push them. The midfield were all over the place and were dragged about. They just don't defend properly. They've conceded the most number of goals in the league, along with Hamilton, and against Motherwell they got three goals but they just couldn't keep the ball out of the other end.
