Dark Blues’ magnificent Dens seven

NOT only did Sunday’s win over Rangers end a 25-year wait for Dundee to beat the Ibrox side at Dens but it also heralded the Dark Blues’ best home run in the top flight since the 1970s.

It might not feel like it with the 2-1 success over the Glasgow side only the club’s first on home turf since the turn of the year but it was Dundee’s seventh match unbeaten.

That topped a six-game run in the 1998/99 season where they picked up three 1-0 wins and three draws. And you’ve got to go all the way back to 1973 to spot a longer spell unbeaten at Dens Park — one that probably will never be beaten.

In Scottish League Division One, Dundee’s home league form extended over a whole season. The 1972/73 season, where they finished fifth out of 18, saw Dens become a proper fortress.

Seventeen games brought 13 wins, including one each over the Old Firm, a 3-0 victory over Dundee United, and four draws.

Add to that the last home league match of the 71/72 season, a 1-1 draw with Celtic, and the first of the following season, a 4-0 victory over Falkirk and you get a stretch of 19 unbeaten games.

The tangerine half of the city will delight in the knowledge it was in the first derby of 73/74 that the run ended with Walter Smith netting the only goal.

Fast forward to the present day and Dundee had actually gone six league games at the start of the campaign without victory as the club struggled at the foot of the Premiership table.

Then came the season-turning win at Hamilton in October, giving them a boost to set off on this run.

Saturday, November 5 Dundee 2 Motherwell 0

It was only the team’s third win in the league all season but their second on the bounce as they began to catch up on sides above. Cammy Kerr opened the scoring before Marcus Haber netted his first for the club in a good victory.

Saturday, November 26 Dundee 2 Inverness CT 1

Craig Wighton and Haber were beginning to put together a partnership for the Dark Blues and it was the former who opened the scoring at home to Caley.