It is not every day that a manager who has just seen his team get hammered says he enjoyed watching the opposition play.
However, that was the considerable compliment paid to Dundee by Peterhead boss Jim McInally after their 4-0 win in the first round of the League Cup.
McInally watched on from the away dugout at Dens Park as his Blue Toon players were well beaten by the stylish and dominant home team, who were driven on by the excellent Gary Harkins.
Reflecting upon what he had just witnessed, the former Dens player and Dundee United legend waxed lyrical about the hosts’ performance and tipped them to finish in the top six of the Scottish Premiership at the end of the season.
McInally said: “All credit to Dundee because I thought they were different class. It was good to watch, actually, some of it.
“Our season starts next week because we won’t be playing against quality like that. For me, Dundee could be a top-six SPL team.”
The Dark Blues, with eight new signings in their side, made it a blue day for the Blue Toon and were in control from first minute to last.
Simon Ferry got things moving on 20 minutes when he tapped in after a Luka Tankulic shot had been spilled by keeper Graeme Smith.
A fine finish from Greg Stewart made it 2-0 just before half-time then sub Peter MacDonald got in on the act by nodding home Tankulic’s cross on 78 minutes.
Tankulic got the goal his play deserved when he shot home four minutes later to round off a good afternoon for Paul Hartley’s team.
The man of the match by a country mile was Harkins, despite the sponsors giving the nod to Tankulic. Harkins ran the game and was happy with a terrific result.
However, he wasn’t getting carried away by McInally’s assertion that the Dens men could be battling in the upper half of the table when the league action starts.
“That is the way we have been playing all pre-season and I was just glad we could take that into this game,” said the midfielder.
“We have good footballers so you should be able to put them together and play well. We showed we could do that. I think we knocked the ball about and played some good, attacking football.
“That’s the aim here and we are glad it got us the win we wanted. It gives us a little bit of confidence to see that we can score goals. We had a few chances and could have scored a couple more out there.”
As for McInally’s kind words, Harkins said: “I think that is something that is nice to hear. What we will be doing is going into every game to try to get as many points as we can and if that takes puts us up there then great.
“We have a good dressing room with a lot of real characters so hopefully we can do well this season.”
Harkins stressed that the overall situation looks much healthier to that in the summer of 2012, when Dundee discovered they would be taking Rangers’ spot in the top flight.
“The club has had a lot more time to get prepared compared to two years ago and the whole place is in a lot better condition,” he added.
“Everyone is pushing to go the right way and you can feel that around about the club. Last time everything was rushed and it was last-minute stuff. It was tough for the gaffer (Barry Smith) to get players in.”
As for Dundee boss Hartley, he was more than happy with his team.
He said: “We are a work in progress but in terms of what we want to do and how we are playing then I am really pleased. I brought the players in to be creative, try to entertain and have good energy about our play and it’s been pretty impressive so far.”