Dundee boss James McPake says it was music to his ears when Shaun Byrne told him his best is yet to come this season.
Byrne has been in impressive form of late, even when the team as a whole was struggling, and has shown why the club fought so hard to bring him to Dens Park last summer.
The Dark Blues saw off competition from two Premiership clubs to get Byrne’s signature and McPake is delighted with the displays coming from the midfield man.
He expects that to continue this weekend when Byrne’s first club Dunfermline head to Dens Park in the Championship.
“Shaun Byrne has been excellent,” McPake said.
“It can sometimes take players time in a new environment but we saw what he could do at the tail-end of last season where he hit form.
“He’d had a couple of niggles last season that didn’t help.
“He’s a Premiership player, we know that.
“He proved that at Livingston and that’s why two other Premiership clubs were trying to sign him when we did.
“He’s a good player and he’s doing really well this season.
“However, he still believes he can be better which is music to my ears.
“He believes there is an even better Shaun Byrne in there which is good for me.”
Home form
When the sides met at Dens last season, Dundee put on one of their best displays of the campaign.
They roared into a 4-1 lead against the Pars with goals from Paul McGowan, Kane Hemmings and Danny Johnson adding to a Danny Devine own goal.
The 10-man visitors did make it a nervy finish by getting two goals back but that made it 10 league trips to Dens Park without victory for Dunfermline.
Their last league victory came back in 2004 when Derek Young’s winner gave them a 2-1 victory in the Premier Division.
This term the Dark Blues have been strong at home with three wins and a draw from their four Dens matches this term in all competitions, with just the one goal conceded.
“Your home form has to be good,” added McPake.
“That was a big thing we talked about before the season about making Dens Park really hard.
“Too often it’s comfortable for teams to play here. It’s a great pitch and teams enjoy coming to play here at a big club.
“For some teams it’s a cup final coming to Dens.
Back when I used to come here for Livingston and Hibs it was always a horrible place and you knew you’d need to dig in, a bit like going to Inverness.
“You needed to roll the sleeves up, win the battle and get out of there with three points if you could.
“Do the dirty side if you needed to.
“We did a bit of that last Saturday (at Inverness) but now it’s full steam ahead against Dunfermline.
“It’s a big game and they’ve proved already this season they can beat anybody.
“They had a sore one at the weekend they’ll be desperate to put right. They are a dangerous outfit.”