Ross Graham was in the form of his life.
The 23-year-old was enjoying a concerted run in the Dundee United side and producing rock-solid defensive showings, allied with contributing three goals in 12 games to the Tangerines cause.
Teammate Declan Gallagher – a man who knows what it takes to pull on the dark blue of his country – tipped him for Scotland honours.
However, football has a cruel habit of kicking you in the teeth at the most inopportune moment.
So it proved. United’s academy graduate slumped to the turf against St Mirren on October 5. A seemingly innocuous hamstring tweak that was initially expected to keep him out for a month.
That turned into almost two months.
And when he was finally ready for action, the imperious form of Emmanuel Adegboyega, Gallagher and Kevin Holt meant he was unable to reclaim his jersey.
However, Graham made his first start in three months against Celtic on Wednesday evening and, despite a 2-0 defeat, he produced a faultless performance. With Holt an injury doubt, he could retain his place for a return to Paisley on Saturday.
Rollercoaster
“It was a frustrating period and the first proper injury in my career,” reflected Graham. “It was a new experience for me to deal with.
“I felt like I was on a good run of form when it happened. I was loving playing football week-in, week-out. But football is a rollercoaster – highs and lows all the time. That injury was a low.
“I initially thought it would be a four-week job but that turned into seven weeks. That was frustrating, and I had a couple of setbacks. You can’t take any risks with a hamstring. You need to wait until it is completely pain free and that’s the case now.
“The boys were doing brilliantly. That made the process easier because I didn’t need to rush back. When I eventually did get fully fit, the boys were doing so well that I couldn’t get myself in the team.
“But I was delighted for the team and I’m always rooting for them, even if I’m on the sidelines. I needed to be patient and work hard off the pitch – and I’ve had a nice run-out against Celtic.”
‘Relentless’ Celtic
Indeed, Graham was arguably United’s man of the match at the home of the champions, albeit Adegboyega was also immense in an unfamiliar right-back role up against the buzz-bomb Daizen Maeda.
No player on the pitch made more clearances than Graham, while he was superb in the air and tidy on the deck.
Nevertheless, Maeda opened the scoring – a maddeningly avoidable goal from a Terrors perspective – before Reo Hatate made the game safe on the break as United sought parity.
“I don’t think it gets much harder than facing Celtic at Parkhead, but I thought every player put in an incredible shift,” continued Graham. “Although we’re not happy with the scoreline, we gave everything.
“Celtic are very good on the ball – and probably even better off the ball.
“You need eyes in the back of your head sometimes to know what’s around you. They are relentless and never stop. That’s when you need that full focus and concentration.
“We switched off for the first goal, couldn’t clear our lines and got punished.”
Graham: No complacency at Tannadice
While United are licking their wounds following successive defeats, Graham is preaching perspective after taking a solid tally of 10 points from a possible 18, including two games against Celtic, one Rangers fixture and a showdown with Aberdeen.
That has propelled the Tangerines into third place.
“We’ve had a really good last few months, especially around the Christmas period – some really big results,” Graham added.
“Unfortunately, we’ve lost the last two, but the boys have worked really hard – a lot of sacrifices have been made – and you could see towards the end against Celtic that the boys had run themselves into the ground.
“That’s the graft we always put in.
“We know the quality we’ve got in our changing room, but we’ll not get complacent or ahead of ourselves. We’re the newly promoted team and are trying to solidify ourselves in the league as a first aim. After that, we’ll see how far we can go.”
The Dons warning
And Graham reckons the 13-point swing that has allowed United to catch Aberdeen should act as a stark warning.
“If anything, that just shows how quickly football can change,” he said.
“The first time we played Aberdeen they were far ahead; joint-top of the league with Celtic. In the following round of fixtures, we play them at home and go within three points of them.
“Now we’re above them.
“That’s how quickly football can turn around, and we can’t allow ourselves to get carried away with our position. It can change at any moment.”
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