Dundee 'battling away' to keep up with United - Palmer-Houlden

From "heartbreak" to the stuff of dreams, it's been a rollercoaster start to the year for Dundee and Seb Palmer-Houlden.

The forward bundled in the Dark Blues' second after 10 minutes in their 3-1 win over St Johnstone on Sunday and he is "happy to get that monkey off the back".

Palmer-Houlden was at the heart of the devastating first-half show from Tony Docherty's side as they left Saints in a spin inside 23 minutes.

The positive performance in Perth came after the "heartbreaking" derby defeat to Dundee United and proved once more Dundee's brilliant bounce-back-ability.

"It was heartbreaking for us," the 21-year-old told BBC Scotland. "I thought we were better in the midweek, but these things happen.

"And, we came back today, like we have done all season. I think when we have a bad result we bounce back really well as a group."

It was a hungry and sharp group in the opening 45, which allowed Docherty's depleted Dark Blues to sit back and rest up a little after the break knowing the job was done.

"We set off to get after them very early doors and once we went 3-0 up, it was just about nullifying their pressure," Palmer-Houlden added.

"It was just about causing them problems. Across the frontline we're all really mobile and we create chances."

That's something they will need to continue to do if their aim of finishing in the top six again is to be achieved.

And there's an added incentive this season, too.

"We want to be getting top six, that's our biggest goal," the striker said.

"We did it last year and that's our aim again, especially when our neighbours are doing so well, you want to just keep battling away and get as high up the table as possible."