Dundee 1 - 1 Aberdeen: Dons must up their game

Having landed the manager that the fans craved in Mark McGhee, they are still wondering which fresh playing personnel will arrive. While Scott Severin and Lee Mair have moved on, the 21-year-old Benin international Reda Johnson is expected to be the first new signing, a back-up keeper the second. The deal to bring central defender Johnson in from French club Amiens is in the final stages of completion while it is hoped the unnamed goalkeeper will arrive early in the week. The number of those expected to follow is likely to be limited.

Which means these are the guys McGhee will have to work with as he seeks to find a free-flowing style of football from back to front and combine that with winning results. Starting at Pittodrie on Thursday. This match was a bit of a knockabout affair, honing methods taught on training pitches, the typical pre-season finding of feet, played at a tempo which will need to be lifted in a few days' time. Because Thursday's match is the foundation Aberdeen will be hoping to build their season from. The Europa Cup qualifying tie represents the start of competitive business and opponents Sigma Olomouch will be a sterner conundrum than Dundee and there were times when they found that one pesky enough to decipher.

Trying out the 4-3-3 formation McGhee favoured at Motherwell, Aberdeen got off to a belter of a start. Pace is the one thing the Pittodrie boss says the current squad has in abundance, so it was fitting that they were so quick off the mark. Only 13 seconds had elapsed when Stuart Duff played in Sone Aluko and he slotted the ball beyond Rab Douglas.

If it was a bright start, it was also a bit of a false dawn. The game didn't exactly fizz into a frenzy. As is so often the case at such an embryonic stage of the season the play struggled to find any kind of urgency and a European tie seemed a million miles away.

Dundee played their way back into it, putting the Aberdeen defence under pressure in the 21st minute. Andrew Considine could not get the ball cleared and having obstructed all-comers as he sought a lifetime to clear from the edge of his own box was eventually penalised, the referee awarding an indirect free-kick on the perimeter of the 18-yard box. Richie Hart touched it into the path of Eric Paton and he drilled it low into the bottom corner.

Aberdeen had the opportunity to move ahead again a couple of minutes before half-time when Lee Miller was brought down in the box. But the striker's penalty was poor and Douglas saved.

The second half started with Dundee manager Jocky Scott demonstrating the strength and depth he now has after a summer of transfer activity. He made nine changes, leaving just Eddie Malone and Hart from the starting line-up, and it allowed for a little bit of history with the Young brothers lining up against each other for the first time. Derek had begun the match for Aberdeen and was marshalling the same midfield area as his brother Darren after the interval. Dundee later switched Hart for Mickael Antoine Courier, while Aberdeen also shuffled things around. Darren Mackie got to stretch his legs, while Faoroese defender Rogvi Holme was also given an outing along with youngsters Sammy Stewart and Scott Ross.

The changes gave the home side greater impetus and what little goalmouth action that came along after the break was courtesy of the First Division side. Craig Forsyth, cutting in from wide left of the Dundee midfield, bore down on Jamie Langfield's goal but the keeper was out to cut the angle and block the shot.

It is a warning for the rest of the First Division and adds credence to the Dens Park side's status as one of the early favourites for promotion. But it is also a gentle warning for Aberdeen. They have bigger things to focus on this week and will have to raise their play accordingly.

Dundee: Douglas, Paton, Malone, McHale, McKeown, Benedictus, Hart, Kerr, McMenamin, Desley, Harkins.

Aberdeen: Langfield, Mullgrew, Duff, McDonald, Diamond, Considine, Young, Kerr, Miller, Paton, Aluko.