After being out for months with a serious knee injury, Josh Meekings was delighted to finally make his debut for Dundee against Celtic on October 14.
However, the Dark Blues lost that game – and then experienced defeat in the next four matches as well with the former Inverness defender being ever present during the bad run.
So it is no surprise to learn that Meekings is revelling in Dundee’s recent resurgence that has seen them draw one and win two of their last three games.
The 25-year-old said: “It’s all about that continuity now. We’ve just got to carry it on.
“We went through a rough period when I first came back from the injury.
“We were five games without a win and everyone was disappointed.
“But the manager kept faith in us and told us to keep doing what we were doing.
“He believed in what we’re about and so does the entire dressing-room.
“Thankfully we’ve managed to turn it around but we want to try to kick on from here.
“It just shows that the hard work on the training ground is all paying off finally.
“The fans are getting to see results which is what everyone wants at the end of the day.
“But we can’t afford to rest on our laurels one bit.”
Dundee have taken seven points out of a possible nine in their last three games with clean sheets being posted in the draw with Kilmarnock and the win against Ross County in Dingwall on Saturday.
As a defender, that is something which has delighted Meekings.
He added: “It’s something we’ve been working on in training. We felt we were conceding some really sloppy goals.
“It’s all about tightening things up and making sure we’re all doing our jobs properly.
“We felt we were playing some good football but it was just individual errors which were costing us.
“Those can be vital in games in this league.
“If you give someone a goal or a head-start, then you’re left fighting to come back.
“So that side of things has been great sorting it out and we’ll just keep working on it.
“There is now a real determination not to concede. We work on it every day on the training ground.
“We’ve been coming in during the afternoons to do extra work – like on our shape – and just ensuring we’ve gone through everything that could possibly happen at a weekend.
“We’ve obviously hit a little bit of form and when teams come here, we want to make it as difficult a venue as possible.
“We aim to stamp our authority on the game as opposed to letting the opposition do that.
“If I’m keeping a clean sheet, I’ll be more than happy. That’s my job after all.”
Aberdeen will arrive at Dens with Under-20s coach Paul Sheerin in temporary charge of the team with the club in turmoil because of Rangers pursuit of Dons boss Derek McInnes.
However, Meekings insists all he is concentrating on is his own team.
He said: “I am not interested in their management or the coaching staff.
“It is nothing to do with us and it will be 11 v 11 out there.
“Whoever is playing for them, it will be a good team.
“They have a good squad and you have seen that over the last few years how well they’ve done.
“But it is down to us to go out there and concentrate on ourselves.
“We have worked hard all week again and we just have to try to implement that in the game.
“Hopefully we can put on another good performance for the fans and get three points which is the most important part.”