On-loan striker A-Jay Leitch-Smith is hoping the festive season will see him secure the extra present of a stay at Dundee until at least the end of the season.
The Englishman has scored four goals in 14 Dark Blues appearances since arriving on loan from Shrewsbury at the end of August.
Saturday’s comprehensive win over Partick Thistle at Dens was, however, was his first start for his temporary employers since the end of October.
That may seem to put a question mark over his spell north of the border being extended beyond the initial deal running out at the end of January but his performance against the Jags did merit special mention from boss Neil McCann.
Fellow-striker Sofien Moussa grabbed the limelight with two penalty strikes and an assist in the vital 3-0 success but the way he linked up with Leitch-Smith caught the eye and impressed the gaffer.
And Leith-Smith is keeping his fingers crossed performances like that mean he will be wanted for the rest of the campaign.
“I haven’t spoken to the manager about it and my loan does run until the end of January, so there’s time to get something sorted out,” he said.
“Hopefully, we can do that in the next couple of weeks and I’ll be happy if I can stay here.
“It was good to be back on from the start against Partick Thistle and I do enjoy playing up front with Sofien.
“When I first came we played together when we beat St Johnstone in my first game. I thought we combined well then and we did again against Partick.
“You need time to get an understanding but he’s a big strong lad and I enjoy playing up front with him.
“He is mobile as well and can run in behind — he is good to play with.”
Should Leitch-Smith get his wish, after the impressive success at the weekend he is convinced he will be operating in a side that’s winning matches and rising up the table.
So far his time at Dens has seen McCann’s team battling to get away from the bottom of the Premiership but what Leitch-Smith sees in the dressing-room is a group of quality players who are only going to get better.
“We have been down the table but I believe we have not picked up the points we should have because a lot of the time the performances have been good.
“It’s disappointing but even when the results were not going our way we always believed we would turn things round.
“There are good players here and the way we’ve played we’ve always felt the results would come.”
Against the Jags, Dundee showed a dominant display that secured their biggest league win of the season, one that could have been even more handsome than the 3-0 final score.
Leitch-Smith, though, was happy to settle for the three points he feels were earned by a fine team showing, one he also concedes vindicated Neil McCann’s post-match blast after the defeat at Hearts last midweek.
“First half I think we looked very dangerous and they had to change their shape.
“We came out with the win we needed. As well as the goals I thought we looked solid at the back.
“They didn’t look like they were going to score and credit to the boys in defence for that.
“It showed what we are capable of. Tuesday (at Hearts) wasn’t good enough and the boys wanted to put it right — we did both defensively and going forward.
“Now we have to play like Saturday week in week out.”
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