Dundee’s 4-1 win at Livingston was their biggest away victory in the top flight in almost seven years.
Not since Paul Hartley’s final win as Dark Blues boss at Motherwell in February 2017 have the Dark Blues registered anything approaching this kind of result on the road.
This one is likely to herald a far brighter future than that season, however – the resulting 13 point gap with two games in hand means it is incredibly unlikely there will be a battle for Dundee to avoid automatic relegation this time.
Instead, they are looking up the table with the top six just one point away.
Plenty to get through. So what did we learn from a dramatic day at the Tony Macaroni?
Mellon
Scotland U/21 striker Michael Mellon hadn’t even been a Dundee player for a whole day before he took to the pitch at Livingston.
But if he can replicate his first half-hour as a Dee in the games to come then the Dark Blues will be a happy, happy club.
His debut showed a player with real quality. Two assists and a goal tell you that.
The 20-year-old looked incredibly assured leading the line and brings a new dimension to the side – an ability to run in behind.
That’s not his only talent and early days suggest Dundee have a very impressive young striker on their hands.
It is early days, though, and there will be far tougher opponents to come. But a super start.
VAR
The video assistant referee system has come under real criticism of late. And for good reason.
This game had more than its fair share of long waits for officials to determine decisions.
The first major call enraged Dundee supporters when Luke McCowan’s push on Jason Holt changed from a free-kick to a penalty kick.
The first replay doing the rounds on social media looked like it was clearly outside the box. A subsequent replay shown on Sportscene suggested the incident started inside – when McCowan made contact with Holt, Holt’s feet were on the line and therefore inside the area.
Once the referee gave the push as a foul, regardless of how much force there was, VAR wasn’t going to over-rule the decision.
Harry Sharp, though, showed his ability by standing strong and saving the crucial spot-kick.
The second penalty looked dubious also.
From the press box it appeared that Owen Dodgson toed the ball away from Joel Nouble. The TV replay, though, showed the defender didn’t get any of the ball and the penalty was a correct call.
Then came a stroke of luck for Dundee in a crucial stage of the game. If McCowan’s nudge on Holt was enough for a penalty, then Mellon’s push ahead of the third goal was a foul as well.
Livingston certainly thought Robinson’s goal would be chalked off, their bench making their feelings clear.
But it wasn’t – and the Dark Blues couldn’t care less. The game was done at that point.
Then Mellon’s goal had echoes of Bakayoko’s disallowed strike into that same goal at Livingston that was incorrectly ruled out. It was Malachi Boateng back then jumping over the ball that caused the problem.
And, again Boateng was jumping while offside. This time the correct result was found with Boateng not in the goalkeeper’s eyeline as Mellon fired in his first goal.
VAR, eh? It’s hard work…
McCowan
Dundee’s main man this season was at the centre of things in Livingston – not always for good reason.
After playing a part in the opening goal, McCowan finished off a fine move for 2-0.
On the ball, he showed his worth to Dundee throughout.
However, a silly push in the back of Holt gave away a penalty in the first half. Then he’s only got himself to blame for the red card.
On a yellow already, McCowan gave away possession and instinctively made a cynical foul on Yengi to earn a second yellow card.
They missed him when he went off at Hearts last week and they will certainly miss him at Aberdeen this Tuesday.
Strikers
Part of Dundee’s recent mid-season slump – one win in eight – was a struggle to get strikers on the scoresheet.
That’s all out of the window after this game.
Bakayoko got things going, ending a run of five games without a goal. Robinson ended the same run himself with his third of the season late on.
And Mellon made it three strikers on target with a fine fourth.
Timely confidence boosters for the frontmen.
Key win
This was Dundee’s first win of 2024 and a crucial one.
It stopped a run of back-to-back defeats and four without victory.
However, despite the end result, this was far from a classic performance.
Dundee only had 37% possession, Livi had more than double the shots managed by the Dark Blues (15 to seven) and more corners (five to three).
The Dee managed more shots on target, though. And that’s where the difference lay.
In attack, Dundee were clinical and made the most of errors in the Livi backline.
And in defence, they were gutsy.
They may not have got it down and played around Livi much. But what they did do was defend their box well and battle their way to victory.
That’s not a quality Dundee have had much in the top flight in recent seasons.
A good sign of better days to come.
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