Victory on the road at Hamilton last weekend gave Dundee a massive lift as they strive to lift themselves off the bottom of the Premiership.
But there’s little doubt why Paul Hartley’s team find themselves still occupying bottom spot in the top flight.
It’s because their home form to date simply has not been anything approaching up to scratch.
Six league games in front of their own support have seen the Dark Blues muster just two points.
They came from clashes with Hamilton and Kilmarnock and, having squandering chances to win both those games, those stalemates had the air of defeats.
Even a victory when Motherwell visit on a Saturday would leave them three points adrift of where they were at this stage last season when it comes to the home points tally.
And the other home stats for this term don’t make good reading either. Six Dens outings have seen just four goals scored — but a worrying 10 have been conceded.
Those are hardly the kind of figures that will put plenty of bums on seats in the home sections this weekend.
The good news that, on paper at least, there’s an upcoming run of Dens fixtures gives hope that record can show considerable improvement.
Back in August, Dundee looked comfortable in taking a point from a goalless clash with the Steelmen down at Fir Park.
And, although Mark McGhee’s side were impressive as they put four past Ross County last time out, they have not won on the road since beating Kilmarnock at Rugby Park on the opening day of the league season.
This game, of course, is followed by the final international break of the year and once hostilities have resumed with what looks a treacherous trip to Rangers, Dundee have home games against Inverness Caley Thistle and Ross County to look forward to between the end of the month and mid-December.
Picking up points from that trio of outings on their own patch would do them a lot of good and could prove instrumental in the bid to get off the bottom.
To do that, the players will have to step up to the plate and perform better than they have been since rattling six and then seven past Dumbarton and Forfar in the home fixtures in the Betfred Cup group stages, though ironically it was the away form in that competition that led to an early exit.
The fans can also play their part and also up their game. While the recent struggles on the park have understandably made them increasingly edgy, an effort to be a touch more forgiving of mistakes could reap rewards.
That was a feature of the away support at New Douglas Park.
Only a few hundred made the trip to Lanarkshire but the vast majority stayed right behind the team for the 90 minutes and were rewarded with victory.
Transform that into several thousand at Dens in 48 hours and it could make another big difference.
Having been involved in good and bad home runs in his time as both player and manager at Dens, the Tele’s own Barry Smith knows what the current crop are going through. And he believes players and fans can combine to put things right.
“Whatever was been shouted from either set of fans, as a player I was able to switch off from it and just focus on the game,” said Barry.
“Not every player is like that and, if they’re taking stick, it can get to them.
“What they have to remember is they can give the fans something to shout about and get them on their side. It doesn’t have to be anything spectacular like a great shot, it can be a tackle or just the fact it’s clear they’re giving 100%.”
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