They say you don’t know what you’re missing till it’s gone.
For Dundee and Dundee fans, however, they know exactly what’s been missing when Lee Ashcroft has been on the sidelines.
A leader on the pitch, a leader off the pitch and one of the main catalysts behind their storming run to promotion in 2020/21.
New manager Gary Bowyer has been careful with the defender after his lengthy absence thanks to a nasty hamstring issue.
But Ashcroft was back in the starting XI for just the third time since November in Tuesday night’s cup clash with Falkirk.
So what will the big defender bring to the Dark Blues in the Championship this season?
Sidelines
First, let’s look at what’s happened to Dundee since their key defender pulled up against Motherwell on November 27, 2021.
Things hadn’t exactly been going swimmingly for James McPake’s Dark Blues even with Ashcroft in the team.
But they had just started to find their feet in the top flight with that ‘Well game a third victory in six. A second win on the spin followed next time out against St Johnstone but then came six losses in a row.
In the remaining 27 matches of the season, Dundee would keep just four league clean sheets and would concede 40 goals, scoring 24.
Ashcroft, of course, did return for a short spell, playing 90 minutes in a 1-1 draw with Motherwell before pulling up against Rangers in March.
Mark McGhee’s men, though, would head for relegation with Ashcroft watching on from the sidelines.
Return
And he admitted in a chat with the Courier that his frustration was at an all-time high being unable to help his team-mates.
Good morning 🙌 🙌 🙌 #thedee pic.twitter.com/TPtdR9odUU
— Dundee Football Club (@DundeeFC) August 31, 2022
“Football is easy from the stands. I actually found it more frustrating watching than it is playing when you’re having a bad game or whatever,” Ashcroft said.
“So, I understand how fans can get frustrated.
“It was a tough season last year personally, and for the team. It’s the first time in my career I’ve experienced that so, hopefully, that’s the last of it now.”
Ashcroft’s patience paid off this week as he made his first start of the season, coming into a reshuffled back line thanks to an injury to Jordan Marshall.
With his return came a clean sheet against League One Falkirk and a trademark goal – powering in a header to send his side into the last eight of the Premier Sports Cup.
Taking the Championship by storm
That trademark was registered at Dens Park in their promotion season last year.
After signing for the Dark Blues in the summer of 2020, Ashcroft had to wait until January 2021 to net his first goal, an extra-time equaliser in a Scottish Cup clash against Bonnyrigg Rose.
Then came a double in a 3-0 win over Alloa in mid-March which set Dundee off on a run that saw just one defeat in 12 league matches, that reverse coming in the second leg of a play-off win over Raith.
In that run Ashcroft would score six times, including an 88th-minute leveller against Morton and THE goal that saw Dundee promoted at his former club Kilmarnock.
Ashcroft’s impact would see him named both Fans’ and Players’ Player of the Year.
This season
Once more, the only target this term is getting back to the top-flight.
Ashcroft had spent five seasons in the second tier since leaving Premiership Killie in 2016.
Ahead of the second leg of that play-off final in 2021, the defender said: “I have probably been in the Championship a bit longer than I wanted to be.”
Sadly his return to the Premiership didn’t last beyond November.
He’ll be determined to give himself and Dundee another crack at the top flight.
Ashcroft’s return to the starting XI could well be a major moment for the Dark Blues in their quest to return to the Premiership at the first time of asking.
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