So who kept a look out for the Dundee score on Saturday?
If you did follow it then you would have witnessed one of the best opening day victories for Dundee in many a year. I correctly predicted a Dundee victory but I did not expect it to be so emphatic and dominant.
Right from the kick off, Dundee outplayed Kilmarnock and gave them a lesson on how to play ‘sexy football’. It got that bad for Killie that there was even reports of a few scarfs being flung onto the trackside as they vented their own anger at how one sided the whole match was.
It was in stark contrast to the travelling Dundee fans who sang and celebrated the whole match with great delight at how their old and new found heroes had produced a display that one pundit described as ‘1970 Brazil’. Now I know that is quite some comparison and it is one that us fans are taking tongue in cheek but the euphoria surrounding this result and display has got us excited at what we can produce this season.
I will try to be unbiased here but all four goals we scored on Saturday were beauties. Rising star and surely a future Scotland international Greg Stewart continued his excellent form by banging in an absolute cracking goal to break the deadlock and the fourth which as soon as it left his foot, was always destined to hit the back of the net.
Rory Loy’s goals were also excellently taken. His first one was a neat flick on at the front post and his second, even though it was in front of an open goal, still had him having to out jump two defenders. You can say that Loy’s second goal was completely overshadowed by Gary Harkins superb assist. His flick over the keepers head was as cheeky as it was outlandish. If you have not saw it yet then I politely suggest that you watch the video below.
Next up we have Hearts at Dens Park on Saturday. Despite being one of the bigger clubs in Scotland, the Jambos are the new boys in the Premiership.
They romped the Championship last season despite having Hibernian and Rangers to compete against and the early signs are they will do just fine in the top league. The thing that may go against them is their defence which looked suspect on Sunday. If they play like that against us and our front line produce another top class display, I can sense another three points for Dundee but we will be made to work a lot harder for it.
With all the praise being handed out to us, it is vital that we get a result to continue the feel good factor within the club. Just three days after the Hearts game, we have the first Dundee derby of the season.
It is safe to say that the past few years have not been kind to us with our record against our wee neighbours down the road. Years upon years of mismanagement meant that we have had to start from scratch while they have been able to advance when producing good teams able to challenge near the top of the league and the cups. We of course hoping that is about to change.
There has been talk that there could be a swing in this city as to who the top team are and I agree there is. We seem to be on the rise while the other lot are foundering after losing their top stars to Celtic. Some of the young players they have brought in I rate highly but there does not seem to be a good mix of young and experienced players in their squad where we have players who have been there and done that blended with young hungry players who many think will go onto bigger and better things.
Get a result against Hearts and we head over to Tanadice with no fear whatsoever. It has been a long time since we tasted victory there so it is long overdue that we deliver for our fans.
The Dundee derby is live on Sky Sports on Tuesday 11th August, kick off 7.45pm so I hope there will be a big gathering of Palace fans willing to cheer us on.
