The faces were familiar but the formation certainly wasn’t for Dundee against Aberdeen on Saturday.
Dark Blues boss Paul Hartley admitted: “First half we had a game plan to come and play with a different system to what we are used to.
“It is something we have worked on. We looked to frustrate Aberdeen and I felt we did that.”
That system involved playing with three centre-halves in James McPake, Thomas Konrad and Julen Etxabeguren.
Whether the surprise line-up was a success is open to interpretation Dundee did frustrate Aberdeen in the first half but they also struggled to carve out meaningful openings of their own.
They improved in the second half and on another day, Kane Hemmings might have had better luck when his big chance came his way.
However, once Adam Rooney made the breakthrough, it was always going to be an uphill struggle for the Dark Blues.
Once again on Saturday, they were without influential skipper Kevin Thomson who was joined on the injury list by Rory Loy and Nicky Low.
Surprisingly, there was also no sign of Luka Tankulic in the squad.
With Dundee chasing the game after Adam Rooney’s opener, there was a lack of experienced attacking options on Hartley’s bench and he eventually brought on Canadian kid Dylan Carreiro with just seven minutes to go.
With Gary Harkins facing a suspension following his late red card, Dundee’s squad will be stretched even further unless those injuries start clearing up soon.