Tonight is the biggest match of Dundee’s season, no doubt about it.
It’s as big as they come because the repercussions of whichever result pops out after 90 minutes will tell us what the rest of the season will hold.
Usually in October, only just completing the first round of fixtures, it’d be too early to be saying things like that.
But one look at the league table tells you just how massive the Dens Park clash is.
It is the classic six-pointer.
Sometimes that phrase is thrown around too easily but this is the perfect example.
Dundee win and Ross County are left adrift at the foot of the table, in serious, serious trouble.
The Dark Blues could also leapfrog St Johnstone and go level with Livingston, depending on results elsewhere.
At the very least they’ll be back among the group of teams above them and looking up the table instead of over their shoulder.
Three points for County, though, and a scrap at the bottom is on the cards.
The Staggies would move to within a point and it could end up being a two-horse race to see who gets away from the automatic relegation spot.
A draw, meanwhile, doesn’t do much but keep the Staggies at arm’s length down the bottom.
Dark Blues have stepped it up
Dundee have stepped up their game in the last two outings.
Obviously the win over Aberdeen was a major boost to the Dark Blues.
But Saturday’s draw at Hearts showed something different.
The combination of rugged defending, with blocks flying in all over, and goal-getters at the other end, Dundee seem to be beginning to figure out how to earn themselves points.
That was their first point on the road – another hurdle they’ve got over in recent weeks.
And four points from games against Aberdeen and Hearts is never to be sniffed at.
If they can make seven points from nine, their season is very much up and running.
And could have fans dreaming of something other than a slog to escape the drop.
With guys like Charlie Adam, Leigh Griffiths, Jason Cummings, Paul McMullan and more in the side, I always felt Dundee were good enough to finish clear off the relegation battle.
It’s up to the players, though, to show they can do that.
The good news is it very much seems like they are doing that.
The bad news they have received in the last 10 days was the injury to Shaun Byrne, however.
The midfielder has been a key player for the Dark Blues and has stood out at times this term, particularly when the team was struggling.
He’ll be a huge miss but the team showed at Hearts they can handle that blow and still get results.
It is early days for a season-defining fixture but there’s no getting away from it tonight at Dens Park.
A win for either side will mean so, so much.
George Cran’s weekly column is published every Wednesday in the Evening Telegraph.
