Dundee kicked off their pre-season preparations with a comfortable 3-0 win at Forfar Athletic.
Skipper Charlie Adam was in imperious form after coming on at the break, laying on three superb assists in six minutes.
On target were Danny Mullen, Paul McMullan and new signing Luke McCowan.
On the morning of the match Dundee confirmed a positive Covid test had been returned from their most recent round of testing with one player self-isolating.
Missing from the Dark Blues matchday squad was striker Jason Cummings with Alex Jakubiak leading the line at Station Park.
James McPake selected a young starting XI as new signings Ryan Sweeney and McCowan took places on the bench.
The club had also received special permission to use Luton Town defender Corey Panter as a trialist.
Forfar boss Gary Irvine, meanwhile, started in central defence for his side with first-team coach Gary Harkins on the bench.
The Dens connections didn’t end there as Dark Blues youngsters Luke and Danny Strachan played as trialists for the Angus side.
The Premiership side had the majority of the ball in the opening stages but it was Forfar who went closest to opening the scoring.
Recent signings Craig Slater and Matthew Aitken teamed up with the latter heading onto the bar from the former’s corner kick.
At the other end Jordan McGhee had brought a good save from Marc McCallum at the start of the half.
And right before the break he saw a close-range effort blocked as he followed up a Lyall Cameron chance saved by the goalie.
Charlie Adam arrives
There was a host of changes for the second half as both sides sent on almost their entire benches.
That saw experienced pair Charlie Adam and Gary Harkins face up in the middle of the park.
Adam made an immediate impact, swinging in a pinpoint cross for Danny Mullen to side-foot home on 54 minutes.
Two minutes later the Dens skipper was at it again, this time landing a wonderful cross-field pass onto the toe of Paul McMullan.
In behind, the winger made no mistake with his finish.
Adam wasn’t finished, however. Before the hour mark he’d already added assist No 3, beating the defence again with a long pass for McCowan to round the keeper and score.
Shortly afterward, Forfar skipper Michael Travis made his long-awaited return after 15 months out injured.
He replaced player-manager Irvine in central defence.
There would be no further goals in the closing stages, however.
Teams
Forfar: McCallum, Meechan, Trialist (Trialist 46), Irvine (Travis 62), Munro, Thomas (Trialist 46), Thomson, Slater (Gallagher 46), Aitken (McCluskey 46), Trialist (Harkins 46), Anderson (Crossan 46).
Dundee: Legzdins (Sharp 46), Kerr (Elliott 46), Fontaine (Sweeney 46), Fisher (Ashcroft 46), Marshall (Trialist 46), Byrne (R0bertson 46), McGhee (Adam 46), Anderson (McDaid 46), McGowan (McCowan 46), Cameron (McMullan 46), Jakubiak (Mullen).
Referee: Chris Fordyce