Jack Hamilton deserves a lot of praise for the way he has responded to his early season troubles at Dundee.
He spent the best part of a month out of James McPake’s first team after the heavy opening day defeat to Hearts (even though there were bigger issues that day than his goalkeeping).
It isn’t the first time Jack has been dropped either.
I haven’t worked with him but everything I hear is positive and he’s responded brilliantly, as I thought he would.
There isn’t a keeper out there who hasn’t had to prove a manager wrong at some stage in his career. I remember when I was dropped by big Jim Leishman and that was exactly my mindset – I’ll show you.
Jack got his chance when our Arbroath team visited Dens a few weeks ago and made a great save to help Dundee get all the points. Now, being part of a win against Hearts will feel like a significant moment.
The same goes for the Dundee side as a whole – that was a big psychological result for them.
It’s a bit early to say they’ll be serious contenders to win the title but a defeat would have pretty much ended their chances.
Shaun Byrne deserves a special mention – not just for setting the tone with that early tackle against Hearts’ main man, Steven Naismith, but for the way in which he didn’t let the booking affect his game.
The confidence and assurance is growing in this Dundee side and Byrne and Hamilton typify that.
Talking of goalies, you can see why people were describing Saturday’s Old Firm game as a throwback to the Andy Goram era.
Allan McGregor was on the top of his game and made the difference, just like Goram seemed to so often under Walter Smith.
There were a few top class saves to choose from in the first half but the one from Leigh Griffiths was the real match-winner.
Greegsy has never been the tallest goalie but his technique was perfect.
It’s not about the dive. It’s about the step he takes before the dive.
That’s what enables him to get the spring he needs to tip it on to the post.
It comes from years and years of work on the training ground to ingrain it.
I can remember that Billy Thomson used to work me really hard on that back in the day and the pay-off is moments like that when you know you have prevented a goal and helped your team to a huge victory.
It would have been hard for Celtic fans watching Fraser Forster play for Southampton against Liverpool on Monday night.
I agree that he would have made a big difference for Neil Lennon if he had stayed but I don’t think this is one you can blame the club for.
If the player and the agent had wanted him to come back then a deal would have been done, it’s that simple.
The possibility of Rangers and Celtic colts teams joining the SPFL set-up is back in the news.
I don’t have an objection in principle. Let’s face it, for most League One and League two clubs, survival is the name of the game and if it makes sense financially, it will happen.
But I would also want to see a proper look at the structure of the lower leagues as a whole, with regionalised divisions put on the agenda as well as the colts concept.
