Joe Bevan believes his performance in Dundee's 2-0 win over Aberdeen shows he is ready to become the team's go-to man this season. The winger provided the cross for Joe Westley's opener and sealed the win with his first Premiership goal of the campaign.
Patience pays off
Bevan signed from Burnley in January, but was initially kept out of the side by the form of on-loan pair Cam Congreve and Tony Yogane. The 22-year-old admitted it was frustrating, but he used the time to learn from the manager and his teammates.
"You want to play but I had to respect that the people in front of me were playing well," Bevan said. "I just trained every day, the manager spoke to me a lot about the defensive principles, the attacking principles he wants from us. So it was actually quite nice once I got my head around that I was building for this season."
Making an impact
Bevan's pace caused constant problems for Aberdeen's defence, and he could have scored more than once in the first half. He was delighted to get off the mark in the league.
"Getting the goal is a monkey off my back," he said. "Scoring that first one in the Premiership is a big moment and it's about kicking on from here."
The win was a response to Monday's draw with Celtic, where Dundee created chances but failed to take them. Bevan added: "We were disappointed after that because of the attacking situations we had. We felt we should have made more of that. In this game we wanted to make the most of them and score some goals."
Looking ahead
Bevan was surprised by the space Aberdeen gave him, but expects a tougher test in Saturday's Premier Sports Cup meeting at Pittodrie. "It makes next weekend's game a bit tasty!" he said. "They will be looking to respond and will have a point to prove. So I suspect they will be all over us, but we will take confidence from it and the team won there last season too."
