It was the archetypal dream home debut for Stevie May, Aberdeen’s £300,000 buy from Preston North End less than two weeks ago, as the energy-packed centre-forward hit the two goals which secured the points for an under-par Dons outfit.

But if the former St Johnstone striker basked in the glory of being a new hero for the red army, Neil McCann, the rookie Dundee manager, was consumed with regret over how he allowed his team to be minus two injured players – Faissal El Bakhtaoui and Marcus Haber – as he awaited an opportunity to introduce substitutions.

It was then – 10 minutes from the end – that May struck the winner, ensuring the visitors suffered their worst start to the season since 1988.

“The win was the most import-ant thing but it was great to get two goals in my first game in front of the home fans,” May said. “The first goal for any striker is the most important of all as it is a weight off my shoulders and I can kick on and enjoy myself here.

“Goals are something that I was accustomed to scoring regularly in Scotland and they weren’t as regular in England which was a frustrating time with injury. I am only going to get sharper as the season progresses as I need more game time so it’s a good start but there is a lot more to come.”

Wearing shirt No 83, his deft header from Greg Tansey’s corner-kick in the 11th minute opened the scoring, a goal that, for the fanatical Aberdeen supporter, might have been written in the stars. For those who have a liking for pub quiz-type issues, the Dons won the European Cup-winners’ Cup on May 11, 1983.

“It’s nice people notice things like that but I wasn’t going for it in my head,” he said. “It doesn’t bother me if it’s the 11th minute, 12th minute or 15th minute, the goals all count the same to me.”

Still, while there was a paucity of midfield invention from the Dark Blues as the hosts controlled that area, there was a certain stoicism and had Haber’s header from Glen Kamara’s cross been an inch or two lower it looked as if it would have beaten Joe Lewis.

The Dark Blues managed to switch to a higher gear in the second half and eight minutes in, Roarie Deacon, their industrious midfielder, was first to Ryan Christie’s misplaced pass and with Andrew Considine, the home side’s full-back playing his 401st game, far too hesitant, fired his shot in between Lewis’ legs.

Late on, El Bakhtaoui and Haber limped off as McCann sought the right moment to introduce their replacements, Danny Williams and Paul McGowan.

“It’s so hard to take losing a goal when we were down to nine men,” the Dens Park manager said. “I felt we had our subs ready and we were asking the boys to come off, but it was all happening that fast as I was trying to organise things and the referee wanted the throw-in taken.”

It was during this period that, following a bagatelle moment of shot and blocks, May stepped in to settle the matter with a pulsating strike to capture the points.

Despite their defeat, Dundee can feel reasonably pleased with their performance and would have been even happier had Scott Allan’s attempt to finish a slick move not ended with a howler of a miss from close range.

In the end, May had become the darling of the home supporters and Derek McInnes, the Dons manager, had described him as “worth his weight in gold”.

“He is getting up to speed,” McInnes said, “but we don’t want to put pressure on him.”