Ross County manager Jim McIntyre hopes to put one over his former mentor Gerry McCabe when the Dark Blues assistant manager takes Dundee to Victoria Park today.
McCabe, 58, was McIntyre’s assistant at Dunfermline and Queen of the South before being lured back to the Scottish Premiership by Paul Hartley at Dundee.
McIntyre knows the importance his former colleague’s experience and knowledge will be to Hartley
He said: “Gerry was my assistant manager at two different clubs, Queen of the South and Dunfermline.
“I know him really well. We won the league together at Dunfermline and he was great for me when I was an older player becoming a young player-manager.
“He was great to lean on and came with a wealth of experience. He was brilliant in the dressing-room and I can understand why Paul offered him a job in the summer.
“Paul already had a couple of extra years’ experience at Alloa but I can understand why he took Gerry in. I learned a lot from Gerry and I’m sure Paul has, too.”
Hartley and McCabe have got Dundee going again after a December slump in form with the Dark Blues visiting Victoria Park on a run of just one defeat in the last nine matches.
But County have won their last two matches to move off the bottom of the division and McIntyre expects today’s encounter to be keenly contested.
He said: “They’ve done a lot of things well. Paul and Gerry have done a great job, got them into the top six. We know we’re going to have a game on our hands. It was like that when we played them here and we managed to get the victory.
“We had to defend for our lives when we went down to 10 men so early when we drew with them at Dens Park in January. We showed great character that day and got a wee break or two when they missed chances.
“They will be desperate to come to Dingwall and turn us over, catch the team above them, so it has the makings of a good game. It will be two teams who like to play.”