If the display at Hibs was a small step for Dundee and manager James McPake, then the win over Arbroath was a bigger one.
But it’s not big enough to see them leaping up that Championship table.
What they need to show is a consistency that’s evaded them completely this season.
All through McPake’s time in charge, it’s felt like the Dark Blues take two steps forward and then one back – it seems like they are on to a winning formula before it all falls apart again.
They can’t afford that to happen this time.
Because the next two fixtures are the biggest of their campaign.
You could maybe argue the biggest of McPake’s young managerial career.
Until the next time anyway.
You can say that about plenty games during a season but losing against Inverness and Dunfermline would spell the end of any lingering title hopes.
I’d wager there are plenty of Dundee fans out there who have already given up hope of staging a fight against Hearts and maybe the Pars.
I know nobody at Dens Park has, though.
Striker Danny Mullen said today that the players are starting to click and there is competition for places once more.
Watching that first half against Arbroath, it’s difficult to disagree.
Paul McGowan, in particular, was excellent but the entire Dundee team were as impressive as they’ve been since relegation.
What they were missing was the killer touch to make the most of their time on top.
The worrying thing for me was the inability to continue that performance in the
second half.
Maybe that will come with time.
It is far better to be moaning about not winning well enough rather than moaning about not winning at all, that’s for sure.
Getting a victory on the road at Inverness is the type of game you can build the
foundation of a season on.
And I have no doubt Dundee have the ability to do just that.
Caley Thistle have been decent this season and go into the contest in the Highlands full of belief after a 3-0 win at Queen of the South.
They’ll have gained confidence from that but I have to say they were up against a very poor Queens side – and that’s coming from a Doonhamer here.
For Dundee, it’s a massive, massive game.
The key will be keeping things tight at the back, that’s where they’ve let themselves down this season.
Liam Fontaine has come in and made a huge difference – just one goal conceded in
199 minutes of action.
Do that and they’ll give themselves a chance of grabbing the three points and coming back down the A9 happy.
Then it’s another huge contest for the context of the entire Championship campaign – for both the Dee and Dunfermline.
I can’t wait for these games – it’s time for Dundee to show what they are really made of.
IT’S not been a good week for Dundee United Football Club.
Very little has gone their way in the last seven days and I don’t expect that to change against rampant Rangers this weekend.
Their team at Livingston on Saturday was a far stronger one than I expected with nine
players missing.
But the performance was poor and the goals conceded pretty soft with very little
created at the top end.
I can’t help but feel all the off-field stuff will have affected the players, those not
self-isolating anyway.
Don’t forget there’s also wage cut talks going on in the background on top of all the Covid stuff.
As for staging a team photo with 40-odd staff members squeezed up next to each other in the middle of a pandemic, that’s just daft.
Absolutely no need for it.
That the photo wasn’t released by the club tells you they knew it was something they shouldn’t have been doing.
So why?
I can’t get my head around the thinking of putting people at risk just for the sake of a photograph you could take at the end of the season when, hopefully, Covid has been beaten.
And fans blaming DC Thomson or ‘DFC Thomson’ is laughable.
It wasn’t long ago when Dees were saying we were pro-United and anti-Dundee – we can’t be both.
Maybe point that anger at those making these kind of decisions inside your own club.
Don’t shoot the messenger.
WATCHING the World Cup qualifying draw was a strange experience – Scotland actually landed in the group we all wanted.
Ignore anyone saying ‘oh, but it’s still a hard draw, Denmark and Austria are better than you think…’
Yes, they are good teams – better than us and that’s why they were in pots one and two.
However, avoiding the real top nations is a massive bonus for Scotland – we should be competing with – and taking points off – nations like Denmark and Austria.
Being pot three will always be tough but that’s a good draw, I don’t care what anyone says.
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