The friendlies are over, Dundee are on the verge of the 2023/24 season.
Five wins from five, 14 goals scored, three conceded and two clean sheets.
The record is good under Tony Docherty but friendly victories mean nought, the real stuff and the real pressure is about to begin.
However, the last few games can give us some clues to what we can expect when points are on the line.
Including from Saturday’s trip to Cove Rangers that saw a League One side full of trialists beaten 1-0.
So what did we learn from the trip to the Balmoral Stadium?
Chances
The scoreline should have been more commanding and boss Docherty said as much in his post-match comments.
The same at Arbroath a few days before when they had to settle for a 1-0 scoreline.
In friendlies it doesn’t matter so much but when the real ball comes out the pressure ramps up.
On another day, Cove’s effort off the woodwork might go in, the late rasper from Kyle Connell flies into the top corner instead of being saved by Jon McCormack.
Equally on another day, Dundee turn one or two of the many shooting chances they fashioned into goals.
Not much is wrong on that front but more ruthlessness will be required when the standard of opposition increases markedly in the coming weeks.
Setup
What we can gather from the pre-season matches is manager Tony Docherty prefers a 4-3-3 setup.
Sometimes it’s more of a 4-5-1, at others more 4-3-2-1.
But the general idea is to have one central striker with two wingers set up to cut inside, three in the centre of the park and a four-man backline.
In the early stages of the second half at Cove, the manager went 4-4-2 as Zak Rudden partnered Zach Robinson.
However, that coincided with the home side’s best spell of the match as they took advantage of a more open Dundee.
Robinson, though, went off on the hour and it was back to the three-man midfield.
Who starts in goal is still up for grabs because, for the second game running, Adam Legzdins had literally no saves to make. McCracken, meanwhile, was worked a lot harder for his clean sheet.
A major positive was seeing Jordan McGhee return to the pitch after three months out.
He adds another very useful option for Docherty, in midfield and across the entire backline.
Robertson to Rudden
Two players who found themselves out of the picture in the second half of last season made the difference.
Fin Robertson has enjoyed a very positive pre-season filled with assists and there was another at the Balmoral with a fine free-kick delivery.
Aside from that, he put in a strong performance on the left wing once more with some sharp passing finding gaps in the home defence.
Rudden, meanwhile, looks like a player determined to make his mark at Dundee.
The touch has been there, the endeavour has been there throughout these matches and this time he got a goal as reward.
He should have added a second late on but it’s a good sign to see two strikers among the goals.
Bonnyrigg Rose
Already Group E has seen wins for Inverness and Airdrieonians against lower league Bonnyrigg and Dumbarton.
And across the first round of group stage fixtures we’ve seen what happens to big teams when they aren’t quite at it.
Dundee United, St Johnstone and St Mirren all came unstuck at lower league grounds.
As much as Dundee fans have enjoyed the misery of their nearest rivals, they don’t want to be joining them in some early-season misery in Midlothian.
The Dark Blues are big favourites, it’s up to them to go play like it.
