DARREN McGREGOR today warned St Mirren they can't underestimate Dundee ahead of the trip to Dens Park.
The Dee will be starting their first home fixture in the SPL in front of their famously vociferous home fans since they were relegated in season 2004/05.
With Barry Smith's men having kept a clean sheet at Kilmarnock on the opening day of the campaign in front of a travelling army of 3,000 supporters, Mac admits Saints will have to be at their best tomorrow if they want to leave Tayside with anything to show for their work.
But with the suspended trio of skipper Jim Goodwin, talismanic striker Steven Thompson and stopper Marc McAusland all set to return to the fray Saints will travel to Dens in good heart.
McGregor said: "There is no way we will be underestimating Dundee. We found out last season when we opened our campaign at Dunfermline, who were the First Division Champions then, just how tough it is to go to a newly promoted side and take something.
"That game had a whole surreal edge to it as we didn't play at East End until the Monday night and everyone else had opened their campaign. It just felt a bit detached from the opening day and we missed a penalty and were happy to get a 0-0.
"So given this will be Dundee's opening home fixture of the campaign we know what to expect. They took a big travelling support to Kilmarnock last Saturday on the opening day and I expect there could be 7,000 up the road for this one.
"Plus the Dundee support are one of the most passionate in Scotland, so we know we are going to have to show some real character at Dens on Saturday."
However the 27-year-old says Saints have taken heart from the way they snatched a late point from their bogey team, Inverness, in their SPL opener at Greenhill Road.
Mac said: "We maybe weren't as fluid as we would have liked against Inverness in the opener but when you look at the fact we were without our captain [Goodwin], top scorer from last season [Thompson] and first pick centre-back [McAusland] then it is understandable.
"It will be great to have all these lads back again and the competition that will generate for places will only boost the squad and the level of performance on the park."
The Saints star added: "But I think we can also take plenty of positives from the way we battled until the end against Inverness to get the point.
"Last season we failed to beat them in any of our four meetings in the league and it was really pleasing, even although we were not at our best, to get that point.
"We showed plenty of character to get it and we will need to do the same up at Dens if we want anything on Saturday."