Dundee 1 - 1 Aberdeen
Michael Grant at Dens Park

ONLY Celtic have spent more than Dundee in the Scottish transfer market this summer and yesterday Dens Park had its first look at what they have to show for their money.

A few hundred Aberdeen fans travelled south for this gentle friendly but the only one who matters to the hosts wasn't among them. Calum Melville, once a regular at Pittodrie, is the man bankrolling Dundee.

Melville is said to be worth £124 million compared to Aberdeen owner Stewart Milne's £90m, and he didn't fancy investing in the team he supported because of the criticism Milne has had to endure over the years. Dundee won't always be wine and roses, either - that's an inevitability as expectations grow - but, for now, he and the club are on their honeymoon. The sense of anticipation around Dens is tangible. It may be asking a bit much of Melville to "help rebuild a famous brand" - the phrase used by the club in a newspaper ad for entrepreneurs to which he responded - but a powerful push for promotion to the SPL is the least they can expect.

For those Aberdeen supporters who haven't turned their back on the club and travelled to Tayside to see Dundee put in their place, there were still no new faces to watch. Efforts are continuing to sign the Benin international centre-half Reda Johnson, either permanently or on loan, before Thursday's Europa League qualifier at home to Sigma Olomouc.

"His club Amiens are digging their heels in a little bit but I still think we will get him," said manager Mark McGhee. When he and Dundee manager Jocky Scott emerged at the same time to speak to reporters after the game McGhee deferred to him and quipped "speak to the one with money first ..."

Only three - Richie Hart, Brian Kerr and Gary Harkins (who cost £150,000) - of Dundee's legion of summer signings were on the field at kick-off, although that number doubled when Leigh Griffiths (£115,000), Sean Higgins and Chris Casement were introduced in a wave of half-time substitutions. Dundee made nine changes at the interval - the introduction of Darren Young meaning that for the first time in their careers he and his brother, Derek, were playing against each other.

Dundee have been priced as short as 5/4 to win the First Division this season and return to the SPL for the first time since 2005. That is an unrealistic, unfair level of expectation with which to burden Scott and his players, but is an inevitable by-product of having money to spend in a division - an entire country, in fact - which otherwise doesn't have a pot to pee in. By opening their cheque book, Dundee have set themselves up as the club to be shot down.

They were felled instantly in this uneventful friendly: they had to go into the back of their own net for their first touch of the ball. Aberdeen had deposited it there a mere 14 seconds after taking the kick-off. Right-back Stuart Duff immediately burrowed his way forward and fed the ball on for Sone Aluko to score.

Dundee had to endure a lot of Aberdeen possession in the first half but there were few goalmouth scares to worry them and Aluko's opener was quickly equalised. Dundee earned a free-kick on the edge of the area and when Hart tapped the ball to Eric Paton, he drilled it low and hard past Jamie Langfield. Lee Miller had a penalty saved by Rab Douglas a minute from the break, before Aberdeen's threat faded and Dundee's "second" team had the better of the second half.

Scott was unhappy with his defence's concentration at Aberdeen's goal but claimed he was otherwise satisfied.

"Slowly but surely we're getting there. It was a good workout, some good stuff at times."

They might have won it during a spell of pressure in which Craig Forsyth drew a fine save from Langfield and then Higgins flashed a shot over the bar. Other than a Charlie Mulgrew free-kick which seemed to surprise goalkeeper Tony Bullock, who reacted late to save, Aberdeen laboured to offer much of a threat.

Zander Diamond was removed because of a problem with sciatica but he is expected to train as normal today and be fine for the European tie. How Dundee would like to have Aberdeen's Europa League involvements; how Aberdeen envy Dundee's spending power.