It’s so good to have a top flight Dundee derby to look forward to again.
We’ve had to wait a while for one in the Premiership but the spotlight will be on the city and its two football clubs on Sunday.
Dundonians justifiably take great pride in the fact that this is a proper football occasion – as passionate as any rivalry you want to mention but always ending with fans from both clubs mixing with each other over a pint afterwards, whatever the result.
I’ve played in it and watched it from the stands and there has hardly ever been one that has been an anti-climax.
Having said all that, I don’t think this is going to be a high-scoring encounter.
There has been nothing to suggest in the season so far that Tam Courts will set his Dundee United team up to be gung-ho and, even though James McPake has serious depth to his attacking options, I don’t think he’ll be cavalier either.
The fact that both sides didn’t get the win they were looking for to take into the derby will add to the air of caution.
Dundee possibly have more match-winners in their squad but they haven’t clicked yet as an attacking unit and Leigh Griffiths needs to get more matches under his belt before he’s up to full speed.
If they could get Charlie Adam into the team, his big-game experience and set-piece delivery could be the difference between the sides.
They won’t admit it but my suspicion is that the two managers would take a draw and move on.
And I think they’ll get their wish.
There are cup quarter-finals for both sides the following midweek and, putting local rivalry aside, you could actually make a case that they are even more important in the bigger picture than the derby.
We might be sitting third in the Championship but nobody at Arbroath will be getting ahead of themselves.
Five games into a league season is nothing in the grand scheme of things and the picture can change quickly.
But there’s no down-playing the feelgood factor at the club.
We’re getting over 1,000 Arbroath supporters to Gayfield, which is amazing.
The side is playing as well as I can remember and, even though there are real quality players like Joel Nouble who has quickly become a fans’ favourites, nobody acts like a superstar.
The team ethic is at the core of the results we’ve got and long may it continue.
One of the teams we have beaten is Dunfermline.
There’s no doubt that they had different aims than us before a ball was kicked.
It’s all about promotion in Fife.
The squad isn’t too different to last season’s but they’ve allowed a big gap to open up between themselves and Inverness at the top of the table.
I’ve seen the talk about a fans’ walk-out during the game, which says a lot about how they feel about things.
If I was protesting against the board, I probably wouldn’t
a) Give them money
b) Walk out and eliminate the much needed hounding of the team/management
Just don’t go. Stand outside and boo like your life depends on it. pic.twitter.com/LZLyKb11yd
— Evan (@EvanMcFarlane) September 14, 2021
I hate to see managers under pressure, particularly this early in a campaign, but to drop 17 points off the pace would leave the Pars with a mountain to climb.
The stakes couldn’t be higher for Peter Grant and his players against Caley Thistle at East End Park on Saturday.
