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Dundee used headlines as motivation, says Docherty

Tony Docherty hopes Dundee fans and players show "mutual appreciation" in their final game of the season against Kilmarnock.

The Dens Park side have enjoyed a successful first campaign back in the top flight, finishing in the top six after winning the Championship last year.

"When you look at our first game of the season against Bonnyrigg Rose, we've come a long way since that," Docherty said.

"It's been a season of real achievement and tomorrow is an opportunity to celebrate that with the fans.

"When I first came into the job, I wanted to have an identity for the team. I wanted to have a style of play. Particularly, I wanted to have something that created that synergy between the players and the fans.

"For me, the real satisfaction comes in seeing that relationship that we've built and hopefully it gives us a platform to build even further next year.

"From the start of the year, most of you guys [the media], it was written off that we were the team that were going to be relegated.

"That gave us huge motivation to do what we've done as a group. [Saturday] is an opportunity to celebrate that and hopefully there's a mutual appreciation between the fans and the players."