Good memories from certain grounds are like gold dust for strikers.
And if the ‘happy hunting ground’ cliché works its old magic at Firhill this afternoon it will be a Dundee win with Kane Hemmings on the scoresheet.
In his one season with the Dark Blues first time round, Hemmings scored three times away to Thistle in two games. Both matches resulted in wins for the Dens Park side.
As is the case with all number nines, he didn’t need time to remember them.
“Yes, I have scored a few there,” Hemmings recalled.
“It is somewhere I have always enjoyed playing so hopefully that will give me a bit of confidence going into Saturday.”
A corner has been turned for Dundee with their victory against Dunfermline last weekend.
But Hemmings knows that results like that need to become the norm rather than the exception.
“It was good to stop the rot at Arbroath but it was important that we started to win games at Dens,” he said.
“I know it was a bit uncomfortable at the end but we got over the line, picked up three points and we move on now.
“We just needed to win against Dunfermline no matter what.
“Partick will probably think they shouldn’t be where they are in the league.
“Their squad shows they are a better team than that so we have the utmost respect for them.
“But we will go there looking to win the game just like we do every week.
“We will try to build on a good 60 or 70 minutes from last weekend.
“It is important to go on another run. They are easily done and easily taken away. You can go on these runs, then they end and you can fall into a little dip like we did.
“So it is important we do go on another one and climb back up the table.
“We also want to put a string of performances together that warrant winning games of football.”
Hemmings reiterated the point he made after the Arbroath game as far as the Championship title is concerned.
“United are away, basically,” he said. “Let’s not deny it.
“Fair play to them but we just need to concentrate on ourselves and the goal is still promotion however it comes.
“We can’t focus on them – we just have to focus on ourselves.”
Cammy Kerr is becoming the main man for assisting Hemmings with his goals.
He said: “I think all my shouting at him over the years has finally got through!
“To be fair, he has put two good balls into the box and they have led to two decent goals.”
Consistency is the (so far unattainable) aim of every club apart from United in this league.
Hemmings said: “I felt we dominated the Dunfermline game and we have done that in a lot of matches this season just not being 4-1 up.
“It was no surprise to us that we were 4-1 up because we know what we can do.
“It is now all about carrying it forward. We need to do it consistently over five, six, seven or eight games.
“We really need to put a string of performances together to make teams fear playing us again.”
He added: “I have spoken about it before – we just need that consistency throughout the team.
“It was good from front to back on Saturday.
“It is all about consistency of performance. We have had good displays before and it has just been that final ball or pass that has let us down.
“But on Saturday for 60 or 70 minutes we were very good and clinical.
“It is just about taking that forward.”
Manager James McPake has several injury doubts, including Declan McDaid and Jamie Ness.
