And, had his players had their shooting boots on during the last month or so, Craig believes other sides would have suffered similarly.

“Against Motherwell the previous week, we did not play that well, but, other than that, Saturday was typical of the way we have been playing for a while,” he said.

“There have been a lot of games where we would have won comfortably if we had taken our chances and that was the big difference on Saturday.

“When the chances came the players scored them and they did very well. It was an excellent performance, but it’s only one game and we are not getting carried away.”

As well as the four goals, another flawless defensive performance was a major feature of the win.

A major player in the back four has been David McCracken, but, despite his improved form, he will still be moving on when his contract expires in the summer.

“There are other players who I have to make a decision on, but David is one I made my mind up about some time ago and I think it would be wrong to change now,” added Craig.

“I actually think knowing he is leaving has helped his form and the way he has been playing will have shown clubs who could be interested that he is a good and conscientious player.

“He has been doing a great job for us, but I do believe players can stay too long at one club and, in David’s case, his experience is too narrow. A move is still the best thing for him.

“For me, of course, the challenge is to find another defender who can do at least as well or better than he has recently.”

And talking of challenges, the manager has thrown down the gauntlet to teenage centre-half Garry Kenneth to use his loan spell at Cowdenbeath to show he has what it takes to succeed as a pro.

“A few good things came early to Garry, but a couple of high points at 17 do not mean anything to me. Now he is out at the coalface of Scottish football so to speak and it is up to him to show us he can concentrate for 90 minutes week in, week out.

“I’ll be having him watched every week and I’ll go to see him myself, and he has to show what he is capable of.”

As revealed by the Tele almost a week ago, the 92% shareholding that is under the control of Glasgow-based accountants Kroll, receivers for former Marr company P&J Taverns, has been made available.

Interested parties, though, only have until Thursday to put together a package showing they can not only pay for the shares but that they would be capable of managing a seven-figure debt.

That leaves chairman Bob Brannan and his board in pole position and they remain both the most likely and preferred option of bankers HBOS.

They also have the full backing of fans’ trust Dee 4 Life, who have been involved in the formulating of the financial restructuring the chairman has been working on for the best part of a year now and which has been given the thumbs up by the bank.

One issue to be resolved would be the ownership of the shares, but that could be done by a sale to the directors for a token amount and on condition they would not be moved on for personal profit.

Other than to reiterate a great deal of hard work had gone into the new financial plan, today chief executive Dave MacKinnon was not being drawn on likely developments over the next few weeks, but within Dens it is hoped everything will be in place before the end of the season.

Equally, the club were not commenting on one of the more predictable developments in the ownership saga — the news that former director Giovanni di Stefano has claimed he is set to bid for control.

The controversial Italian businessman agreed to buy the club in 1999, but failed to come up with the necessary funds and was a director for a brief period in 2003, but again promises were not backed up with cash as Dundee plunged towards administration.

Now he has said he will be speaking to the receivers, but he is not considered a serious contender.

On the pitch, Scott Robertson’s season is over after the draw at Queen of the South on Saturday saw him suffer a broken bone for the second game running.

Against Gretna he broke his nose, now he has fractured a bone in his foot and won’t be involved again this term.

Despite that and losing a last- minute equaliser, boss Alex Rae saw positives from the draw.

“We should have won and to let them out of jail late on was disappointing. However, I was happy to see my strikers both score and, on top of his goal, I was pleased with the way Dyron Daal led the line,” said Alex.