The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Robertson living dream – and showing no fear
He may only have just turned 18 but Fin Robertson has shown no ounce of fear in his 27 Dundee appearances to date.
Making his debut at 16, there was only composure and an assured presence on the ball in the middle of a frant ic Prem iersh ip midfield.
And he has shown plenty more of that in the 18 months since, as well as an endless willingness to learn his craft.
The Scotland under-19 international is one of Dundee’s own, a Dee out there on the pitch living the dream of all footballloving youngsters.
Ev e n though results lately have been up and down, Robertson sincerely believes in the quality in the Dark Blues squad this season.
And he has challenged his team-mates to prove him right, starting at Ayr United on Saturday.
A s ke d to assess the season so far, Robertson replied: “We’re playing well, you know.
“It’s just little bits we need to sharpen up on, maybe a wee bit of luck, a bounce of a ball here or there, to win a game.
“It’s going to be tough to get up but we have to believe in ourselves.
“And we have a good squad of players who are capable of doing that.
“We can take a lot out of the two recent Betfred games.
“We tested ourselves against one of the best teams in Hibs and if we can keep those standards...
“We were right in the game at Hibs until about 70 minutes, then six minutes and the game is out of sight.
“It ’s disappointing because the boys put a lot into that game, worked very hard.
“We’re gutted the way it finished.
“After we scored, I was thinking we might get another one because we were right on top.
“The boys were all pressing high and I thought we might sneak another goal, but out of nothing they got another goal.
“After that I don’t know what happened, we came under pressure and gave them two goals.”
Robertson returned to the starting XI at Hibs on Sunday, having been on the bench for the previous four matches.
He’s delighted to be back in the team and testing himself against some of the top players in the country.
And testing himself is something Robertson is intent on doing, every time he steps out on the park in a Dundee shirt.
Many 18 -year-o lds coming into a match against the likes of Stevie Mallan, Joe Newell, Martin Boyle, Kevin Nisbet and Jamie Murphy would have done so with a sense of trepidation.
There is no room for that sort of thinking in Robertson’s mind, however.
“There’s no point in being nervous,” he said.
“You just need to do your job – it doesn’t matter how old you are or how many games you’ve played, when you’re out on that pitch you’re just the same as everybody else.
“You are out there to do your job and win the game.
“You want to be playing against the best teams.
“We have to be able to compete in these games if we want to be getting out of this league.
“For me, there’s nothing better than testing yourself against the best.
“I thought for large parts of the Hi b s game we matched them but then the last 20 minutes wasn’t up to standard.”
He added: “It was good to get a start, I hadn’t started in a few games.
“Playing up against good players like Jamie Murphy who has played at the very top, it’s good to see what
you’ve got to be like to get to that level.”
With playing budgets tight thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, the Dundee squad this year has been supplemented by a number of academy players.
Nineteen-year-old Max Anderson has impressed in the middle of the park while Jack Wilkie and Cammy Blacklock made their debuts, albeit briefly, in last week’s 3-0 win over Cove Rangers.
To them, a player like Robertson, with a full first team season under his belt, is someone to look up to and try to emulate.
Level headed and down to earth as he is, however, Robertson’s not having any role model tag attached to his name.
“I don’ t really think about anything like that,” he said.
“I’m just the same as them, I don’t treat myself any different because I’ve played a few first team games.
“They don’t treat me any different either, so I just try to get them involved in the squad and make them feel a part of it as much as I am.
“Charlie Adam has been great for that, he’ll speak to everyone no matter age and get everyone involved.
“No one is scared to say something, even a younger player having a go at an older player for doing something, you need that.
“There are more coming through the academy, too, which is great – that’s what this club needs, a strong academy to feed into the first team.”