Blair Spittal thought he was living the derby dream until he got a rude awakening as Dundee United threw it all away.
Players, even youngsters like Spittal, do experience highs and lows in football but rarely are they crammed as closely together as they were on Tuesday night.
The Dundee United youngster enjoyed the two best minutes of his career thus far as he took personal charge of the match against Dundee at Tannadice.
With the clock ticking into the 65th minute, Spittal produced some fancy footwork to make space for himself just inside the Dundee box then produced an excellent finish to put the hosts 1-0 up.
Just a couple of minutes later, Spittal stole the show again as he raced on to a Chris Erskine pass before firing the ball beyond Dark Blues keeper Scott Bain.
It looked like it would be a night to savour for for fomer Queen’s Park kid and that United would once again show who was boss in the city.
However, Greg Stewart’s goal nine minutes from time gave the visitors hope then James McPake bundled home a dramatic equaliser deep into stoppage-time to stun the Tangerines and their fans.
Spittal, who was deservedly named man-of-the-match, said: “I think after going 2-0 up you have to see the game out better than we did.
“We have to defend better than we did.
“It definitely feels like two points dropped, given the position we were in.
“We tried to hold on to the lead but the pressures from Dundee eventually told but we can’t dwell on it.
“We have to take the positives out of the game and build on it for Saturday down at Hamilton.”
Spittal revealed it was all a bit of a blur for him as he banged in his two goals.
Asked if it was the best couple of minutes of his fledgling career, the 19-year-old said: “Probably, aye, but I can’t really remember much about it – just a wee bit.
“It was a great feeling scoring the two goals but I am disappointed about the finishing result.
“I guess it’s a learning curve for us.
“You see the amount of teenagers that were in our starting line-up there, the gaffer has put faith is us so we are trying to repay that.
“So it’s definitely about learning as a team.
“Their keeper pulled off an unbelievable save from Simon Murray and it just shows what can happen if you don’t take your chances.
“The opposition can just go up the other end and score and Dundee did that.
“However, it’s not something we can dwell on.”
United keeper Luis Zwick failed to hold on to a Gray Harkins shot in the lead-up to the Dark Blues’ equaliser but Spittal exonerated him from blame.
“It was a good save that he pulled off (from Harkins) but he will say he should have held it.
“I think he was outstanding all night and he kept us in the game, especially when we were under pressure from them.
“For all of us – not just Luis – it’s not something you can dwell on.
“He has had a great start to the season and it’s time for him to build on that.”