THE return of the fitba' has allowed for some familiar habits to be restored.

The SPFL Championship season made its bow on Saturday after supporters had spent the cup-ties of the previous two weeks clearing their throats in anticipation of a league campaign dressed in new branding but fitted for well-worn practices, and it did not take long for Dundee fans to find their range.

Their side would suffer defeat by Queen of the South on Saturday but it was a match throughout which the visiting support did not lose focus.

"I thought I did all right," said Derek Lyle, the target for some of their taunting. The Queens striker had just finished a game in which he scored, his team won and during which he led the line assiduously, yet he was given to refer instead to a two-year spell as a player for Dundee which concluded with his release at the end of the 2007/08 season. It is the prerogative of supporters not to let go so easily, though, with Lyle's position up front in Dumfries having left him vulnerable to ire.

That he would equalise with a header after Peter MacDonald had put Dundee ahead did little to ingratiate the 31-year-old with his former club, either. The Dundee support were invited to undermine Lyle's every effort with zeal since this was their opening Championship fixture and there seemed little sense in trying to muffle them given how their persistent chanting augmented a crackling atmosphere. Yet during one exchange midway through the first half it seemed to snap, when Lyle followed a loose ball towards the visiting end only to get it tight from a good number of supporters.

"They went off their head for a bit," said the Queens striker, whose goal was supplemented by Ryan McGuffie, Iain Russell and Michael Paton. "We are 1-0 down so I went to get the ball back and the next thing there are people trying to get at me. I just put my hand forward for the ball but there was all sorts happening. A couple tried to have a couple of swings. They can seem to do what they want to you and sing what they want. That's football."

It is a familiar, catch-all, phrase but one which does not seem to define his encounter with the Dundee support. It did allow Lyle to steer the conversation back on to the pitch, though, where Queens were as purposeful and attentive as they had been while making their way into the division last season, at least until Calum Antell dropped the ball. Twice.

"I was just sitting on the bench thinking this is a problem which shouldn't really have happened," said Lyle, after the Queens goalkeeper conspired to allow Dundee to cut the deficit. "But it's not cost us."

It seems a more expensive result for the Dens Park side since they were forced to concede the menace and formidable intent with which they had approached the league campaign, alongside the four goals lost.

"Our defenders left us very vulnerable," said John Brown, the Dundee manager. "Some of the football Queen of the South played opened us up and told me a few things. The boys have been told that that's not acceptable and if they aren't able to do their jobs then I will get players who can."