Dundee finally ended their desperate search for a victory in the Premiership.
Leigh Griffiths got his first goal.
And the Dark Blues even beat the team they never beat to do it.
At long last, the Dens men have something to shout about.
This week there’s no hard luck stories about deserving a result they never achieved.
There’s just a satisfaction at Dens Park over a job well done and a look ahead to the next game on the horizon.
Saturday’s trip to Hearts will be the 10th game of the league season.
Normally by this point you have an idea how the final table might pan out.
Not with this Dundee side, though.
There’s been plenty positive about the way they’ve gone about things. The only things that weren’t positive were the results.
So what was the difference this past weekend?
Adam dominant
They had skipper Charlie Adam roaring back to action and Griffiths looking sharper than he has up until now.
I guess it’s not rocket science when you combine the good play from earlier games with real quality.
And that’s what those two bring.
Last season when Adam returned from injuries he took a bit of time to shake off the rust.
However, there was none of that on show against Aberdeen.
He seemed to relish every second of being back out on that pitch and was absolutely dominant in the first half.
Scott Brown and Lewis Ferguson couldn’t get near him.
Though he had no direct involvement in the two goals, the positive influence he has on the team was clear to see.
I’d go as far as to say that first-half display was Adam’s best performance for Dundee.
I’d even compare it to the play-off finals and lift it higher than the Stark’s Park semi-final where he tore Raith Rovers apart. He was that good.
That sort of performance bodes well for the big, big games to come.
Griffiths deadly
Quite clearly so does the return to goalscoring ways of Leigh Griffiths.
Lacking sharpness in touch and shot, there will have been worry in every Dee that Griffiths would never rediscover his old self.
Though Saturday wasn’t perfect, it was a hefty step forward in that regard.
He’s no targetman but the ball was sticking a lot more when it came to him in the first half.
And, as soon as he got free in the second half, there was deadly steel in the finish with his right foot.
A bit rusty he may still be, that one-touch-and-finish showed the supreme goalscorer is still in there.
There remains work to do on fitness but Saturday was a clear sign he’s getting there.
And that makes very encouraging reading for Dundee.
They are still scratching around on six points near the bottom, don’t forget.
That’s a big problem to solve.
But they have two key men back fit who can come up with the answers in Griffiths and Adam.
George Cran’s weekly column is published every Wednesday in the Evening Telegraph.
