Dundee travel to Hamilton Academical for the last Ladbrokes Premiership match of the season and so we take a look that a player who played for both clubs, Derek Fleming.
Midfielder Fleming was born in Falkirk on December 12th 1973 and started his career at Meadowbank Thistle where he scored three goals in 49 appearances before moving to Dunfermline Athletic in October 1994.
Fleming stayed at East End Park for the next three years, scoring six times in 91 games and started the 1997/98 season making four appearances for the Premier Division Pars before being brought to Dens Park by John McCormack in a swap deal for unsettled George Shaw.
Fleming made his Dark Blue debut as an attacking left back at home to Hamilton on September 20th 1997 but unfortunately it ended in a 2-0 win for The Accies. He followed this up with three straight wins against Morton, Airdrieonians and Stirling as The Dee moved to the top of the First Division, looking to get promotion at the fourth attempt.
Fleming and Dundee got revenge over promotion rivals Hamilton with a superb 4-0 win at Cliftonhill which they were sharing with Albion Rovers but after a series of stuttering results and poor performances, the board decided to replace John McCormack with Jocky Scott, despite being top of the league.
Fleming played in the first game of Jocky’s second spell in charge against Ross County in the Scottish Cup and in the replay at Dens after a 1-1 draw at Dingwall but that would be his penultimate game for The Dee.
After appearing in a 1-0 win over Airdrieonians at Dens the following weekend, which put the Dark Blues eight points clear at the top, Scott allowed Fleming to move out on loan to his original club, which had now been rebranded as Livingston and moved to West Lothian and played out the season with them before joining them permanently in the summer.
Fleming left Dens Park after just 23 appearances but his 20 in the league was enough to entitle him to a First Division winners’ medal when the Dark Blues won the title at the end of the season and promotion into the inaugural SPL.
Derek then helped Livingston to win both the Second and First Divisions but was freed before getting a chance in the top flight. He then moved to Partick Thistle where he picked up his third First Division winners medal after scoring the title-clinching goal against St Mirren at Love Street.
Unfortunately Derek broke his leg scoring that goal, meaning he was only able to play in a few SPL games for the Jags and after two consecutive relegations, he left Firhill after playing in the first four games of season 2005/06 to join Hamilton Academical.
A few weeks after moving to New Douglas Park, Fleming came up against his old club Dundee in the Scottish League Challenge Cup and was part of the side to knock The Dee out 2-0 in Lanarkshire en route to the final.
In November Derek lined up in the final against St Mirren at the Exclesior Stadium but lost 2-1 after another ex-Dee John Sutton scored the winner with just ten minutes left.
The 5ft 7in midfielder/defender played in several left sided positions for the Accies but injury restricted his appearances in his second season where he played just six times after October. In total he would play 47 times for Hamilton, scoring twice before moving to Alloa Athletic in the summer of 2007,
Flea, as he was nicknamed, stayed just one year at Recreation Park before signing for Cowdenbeath and after just 12 months in Fife, moved into the Junior game and joined Bo’ness United. In 2011 he moved to Linlithgow Rose where he took on a player/coach role until he left in 2014 when manager Mark Bradley resigned shortly after watching his side capitulate to a 6-0 East of Scotland Cup defeat at St Andrews United.
Honours at Dundee
Scottish League First Division winners: 1997/98
Appearances
League: 18 + 2 subs
Scottish Cup: 1 + 2 subs
Totals: 23
