Defiant Kenny Miller has vowed not to give in on his advancing years as he sets his sights on grabbing more goals for Dundee.
The 38-year-old former Scotland star stole the show with a stunning hat-trick allied to Jesse Curran's second-half strike in Wednesday night's 4-0 destruction of Hamilton which gave Jim McIntyre his first Premiership win at the Dens Park helm.
Miller looked every inch the razor-sharp striker defenders have dreaded facing over the years, and the veteran forward feels he's every bit as fit as he was at any time throughout his glittering career.
The Dark Blues fans' favourite is now gearing up to go head-to-head with old club Rangers in Sunday's televised Tayside showdown, brimming with confidence that he can once more do the business when it matters most.
“I feel great. I don’t want to give in to time," said Miller. "I train as hard as I can every day and I try not to take too many days off.
“If you do that I think you are starting to admit you are not capable. For me, at the minute, I am enjoying playing football.
“I felt this result was coming and it just gets us that bit closer and into the mix. I feel great and long may it continue.”
It was Miller's first hat-trick since his Rangers days when he disposed of Dumbarton almost three years ago, but admits it was all about claiming those elusive three points and smashing their home hoodoo in their quest for Premiership survival.
He added: "The last one was at Dumbarton away when we were in the Championship and it came just after Christmas.
"It's nice to get the goals. It was nice to get the first goal a couple of weeks ago and then against Hibs and now to get a hat-trick is pleasing, but it was all about the result.
"I'm delighted for the lads. We've also got a clean sheet and we defended well on the night.
“It's an accumulation of all the hard work we have put in since the manager has come in over the last six or seven weeks.
“There have been good performances over the past three or four weeks.
“Motherwell away we upped our performance and Hibs and St Mirren, for me, we should have come away with at least one win from those two games. This was a well-earned victory.”
Miller is relishing Sunday's visit of his former club and knows Steven Gerrard's men will be like a wounded animal in the wake of their bitter defeat by rivals Aberdeen at Ibrox in midweek.
He said: "“It will be a tough game because they are a good team. They had a disappointing result at home and they will be hurting from losing to Aberdeen.
“I am sure the manager will be looking for a response. At big clubs, when you have a negative result, you need to respond and we need to be prepared for that response and to match it head on.
“Off the last three games, though, we can take a lot of heart and confidence.”
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