This time last season, Dundee could be forgiven for looking at the inter-national break as a form of respite.
Just one win in nine had the Dark Blues fearing for their SPL future, and former boss Barry Smith probably welcomed a weekend away from the pressures of the league to allow his side to regroup.
Fast forward 12 months, though, and John Brown is simply delighted his side are not facing a similar enforced lay-off ahead of Scotland’s World Cup qualifier at Hampden on Tuesday.
With an almost full Championship card going ahead, Brown will take his team to Dumbarton this weekend determined to capitalise on the feel-good factor gained by back-to-back wins in the league in recent weeks.
That’s why ‘Bomber’ is delighted the fixtures are coming thick and fast at this moment in time.
“It’s great that we’ve got a fixture this week and we want to keep the momentum going,” he said.
“We know it will be a difficult game going to Dumbarton they know that a result for them on Saturday will get them right back in the race, so it’s a tough game for us.
“We just need to keep reminding the players of the Queen of the South game, the Falkirk game and a good 60 minutes of the Hamilton game that we didn’t look the part.
“In the other games, we might not have finished off teams, but we’ve looked a more solid unit. The whole team didn’t perform against Falkirk, so Saturday at Cowdenbeath it was good to get the victory but it was another clean sheet.
“That’s five out of eight now so that’s a good return. We want to keep that going, although we know it will be a difficult game going down to Dumbarton.
“They’ll be upset about their result at the weekend, but it’s an opportunity for us to go down and take the game to them. It’s a good pitch down there, so that’s what I’d expect us to be doing.”
Brown isn’t getting too carried away with the results over Morton and Cowdenbeath in the last fortnight, but he reckons things are coming together nicely for the Dark Blues.
“We’re creating and looking solid,” he said.
“We had to change it on Saturday because Willie Dyer was out and we had to bring Matty Lockwood in, but we had good balance on the left hand side.
“Nicky Riley and Ryan Conroy gave us a bit extra in the wider areas and switched the play well, and Craig Beattie and Peter MacDonald are getting an understanding too.
“We caused their centre halves a lot of problems and, but for their goalkeeper, it could have been a more comfortable result for us.
“I also think Declan Gallagher and Iain Davidson at the back have been big for us and they are getting an understanding and looking the part.
“So I’ve got to compliment those two, and our goalkeeper is looking solid too. But everyone is chipping in the fringe players are chipping away to try and get in the team and you need that competition.
“If you’ve got that it keeps the players in the first team on their toes because they know that they are not a standing fixture.”