Striker Simon Murray feels he is "in a good place" before Sunday's Dundee derby after rediscovering his scoring touch.
The 33-year-old scored 22 goals for Dundee last term but struggled for much of this season, netting just once in the league until mid-February.
However, since losing his starting place Murray has responded emphatically and has scored four times in his past four appearances.
"Obviously, it's been a difficult season for myself at the start," he said.
"Injuries, not full fitness, not firing, not getting many chances but at the same time just not feeling probably myself.
"The manager said I'd been in these positions before and that I just need to go away, take some time.
"I wasn't in the team for six, seven games and so I just did what I normally do, I got my head down and worked hard. And then with that, you get maybe a bit of luck at times and the balls start falling to where you are.
"I got a deflected goal against Hibs, which maybe when I wasn't feeling a bit more confident, I would have passed it or not taken up the opportunity to shoot.
"I'm feeling good, I'm in a good place. I've been training well since probably the start of January, not feeling any niggles, so my fitness is in a good place and I'm playing well."
Dundee can overtake their city rivals United in seventh when the sides meet at Dens Park on Sunday.
Steven Pressley's men are unbeaten in four matches, including a 2-1 win over high-flying Motherwell last weekend.
"It's been a good run of games for the team," Murray added.
"Since the middle of December, we've been picking up a lot of good results, along with some very good performances.
"It's been a big transition from the start of the season to where we are now, but there's still a lot of work to be done.
"The derby brings its own incentive, as big as the rivalry is and how big the match is, but going into it knowing that we can jump above them with a win is something we need to look at and really take that opportunity."
