Dundee’s Declan Gallagher has revealed he knows first hand just how much team-mate Martin Boyle’s pace can torment defenders.
The 20-year-old striker has been a revelation since new manager Paul Hartley arrived at the club with Hamilton and Queen of the South both struggling to cope with his blistering turn of speed.
The two games have seen three red cards dished out as a direct result of challenges on Boyle, and Gallagher admits he is not surprised by how much the front man is terrorising opposition rearguards.
He said: “Everybody knows how good Boyley is. He is really hard to play against as I found out when I was at Clyde and he was at Montrose.
“He has tormented defences in all divisions and with the pace he has, he could play in the Premiership. It is always an out ball for us to get him on it.
“He is a good lad and the boys don’t like seeing him getting tackled the way he does but he just gets on with things. To be fair, it is a good attitude as a lot of players would react.
“But he just dusts himself down as he knows he is getting the better of defenders. He is a hardy boy and everyone can see with the tackles that are flying in, he is not diving.
“Boys are going right through him and it just shows that there have been three red cards in the last two weeks and they have all been on him.
“So if he keeps playing like that we will be happy.”
While Boyle has been terrorising opposing defences, the Dundee rearguard have been doing their bit by securing clean sheets in the last two games.
And Gallagher revealed that keeping the door firmly shut at the back was one of the first things new boss Hartley insisted upon.
He said: “We were delighted to get another clean sheet on Saturday.
“The first piece of paper the gaffer put up in the changing-room when he came in was about a clean-sheet mentality. It is a big thing for us as we know if we don’t concede a goal, we won’t lose the game.
“So that is the way we have to look at it, shutting the back door first and then the goals will come with the boys up front.”