After Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Aberdeen, Dundee manager Tony Docherty said, “if I keep getting that level of performance consistently, we’ll be okay”.

Once again, he watched as his side put a lot into a game, but got nothing out of it.

While he may be happy with the performance level, that is now four league matches without a win for the Dark Blues.

Yes, they restricted an on-form Aberdeen side to just two shots on target – but both of those efforts resulted in goals for the visitors.

Yes, it is still early in the season, but as the weeks tick by, the leaking of goals will become a real concern for Docherty.

His side have conceded two in each fixture within that last quartet of Premiership games – and however good everything else may be, victories will be hard to come by if they can’t find a way of tightening things up at the back.

On the plus side, it is true to say that Dundee are continuing to offer a lot in their games, and there is definite credence to the view that if they continue to do that, then their fortunes will change.

But it also true that successful sides are usually built on solid defensive foundations.

The return from injury of defender Clark Robertson is an undoubted positive for Dundee, and it would come as no surprise if that coincides with a firming up of the Dens Park rearguard over the coming weeks.