It was just about the perfect weekend of football for Dundee.
The five teams around them in the Premiership table all dropped points while the Dark Blues registered a 2-0 victory over Ross County.
It was their first back-to-back top-flight wins since November and a welcome clean sheet, the first since beating the Staggies up north in December.
A good day all round for the Dark Blues and Courier Sport was there to analyse all the action.
Comfortable win
This was a routine victory for Tony Docherty’s men – a welcome sight for the Dark Blues.
There were even spells throughout the game and Ross County threatened to threaten at times.
The Staggies had a lot of shots – more than Dundee – but, aside from a straightforward block save from an Eamonn Brophy shot and then a much less straightforward one to deny Simon Murray midway through the first half, Carson was largely untroubled.
When it mattered, Dundee had the quality to take their chances.
This was the third meeting between the sides and the third time County had failed to breach the Dee defence.
Clean sheets have been a feature throughout the season for Docherty’s side but injuries to key defenders had seen that slide in recent weeks.
No surprise that the return of Aaron Donnelly, who again was excellent, and Ricki Lamie – who wants to extend his stay at Dens Park – have strengthened the backline.
That bodes well for another big game next weekend at Hibs where the opportunity lies to open up an eight-point lead over the Edinburgh side.
Scott Tiffoney
It hadn’t really happened for Tiffoney since his move from Partick Thistle.
A promising start in the League Cup was followed by injury problems.
Then Dundee’s preferred line-up didn’t include wingers, Tiffoney’s most comfortable position.
He showed, though, in this game what he can bring from the wing.
Tony Docherty stuck with the 4-3-3 that worked second half against St Johnstone last time out and it worked again.
And Tiffoney made the difference. The first goal a sweeping move from halfway that included Amadou Bakayoko and Luke McCowan before Dara Costelloe played Tiffoney in.
The finish was a confident one, slipped through the legs of the onrushing keeper, and the second showed even more confidence as he found the corner from the edge of the area.
His best display in dark blue.
Owen Beck
The one negative on a good day for the Dee was the sight of Owen Beck limping off.
It was a pretty quiet day for the Liverpool loanee. County wing-back James Brown followed him wherever he went and Beck wasn’t able to influence the game as much as he’d like.
Possibly injury affected that, too.
Manager Tony Docherty said it was a tight groin which wouldn’t be a big worry. The image of Beck going off looking so disappointed, though, is more worrying.
Missing one of their key men for any amount of time is the last thing Dundee want, though they have enough in their squad to cope.
Fingers crossed it’s nothing serious.
VAR
No negative impact on the game from the video assistant referee, working away quietly in the background.
More of this please.
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