There was an Everton scout at Dundee’s game against Hamilton on Saturday.
No doubt a couple of Accies’ young prospects would have drawn him through the infuriating Lanarkshire roadworks to New Douglas Park, or whatever it’s called these days.
None of them put in performances to make his trip worthwhile and, if there were any developing talents on display who would have been marked down as one to keep an eye on, it would have been Craig Wighton.
Let’s not overstate it, he wasn’t man of the match and should have scored in the first half when he cut in on goal from the left.
But there was a maturity to the 19-year-old’s showing, and a comfort with the role of a central attacker, that was both encouraging for his career in the long-term and Dundee’s prospects for the rest of the season.
Wighton’s relatively short time as a professional footballer has divided opinion more than any other player in this part of the country in recent years.
For some he’s the next big thing – to be spoken of like a Johnny Russell, Stuart Armstrong or a Ryan Gauld. Others, both in the game and in the stands, can’t see what all the fuss is about.
Me? I became a convert at Parkhead in March when Wighton left several back-pedalling Celtic players helpless as he travelled from the middle of the pitch to the penalty box, narrowly failing to finish off what would have been a Dark Blues’ goal of the season contender.
He had to wait another two months to make his name with one of those, and by putting the final nail in Dundee United’s relegation coffin he made sure he would forever be a part of Dundee Football Club folklore.
The boy had become a man and this should have been his season, especially with Kane Hemmings and Greg Stewart moving on.
In and out of the team (more out than in) and struggling to make an impact was the story of Wighton’s first quarter of the season, however.
Saturday’s game was his most telling contribution.
There are few players in the Premiership as comfortable with a ball at their feet when running at full speed than the teenager, and on several occasions he got Dundee up the pitch, drew fouls and relieved pressure in a game that his manager’s future might have hinged on. Like the team as whole, it wasn’t fancy, but it was effective and hinted at more to come.
Perhaps for the first time in his career, with the strength of Marcus Haber beside him and power of his own to deal with the attention of no nonsense centre-backs like Hamilton’s, he looks ready for a run of games up front. It would be a shock if Paul Hartley doesn’t now give him just that.
And if goals get added to an all-round game, that Everton scout, and a few of his peers, will become as regular a sight at Dens Park as they were a couple of years ago.
