In their heart of hearts, most football-mad kids know they will never become professionals. For a select band the dream lingers on a few more years before they too fall foul of a system that only cares for the freakishly talented. Craig Robertson belonged to this second group. Despite being a standout at schoolboy level, he was not handed a full-time contract on his 16th birthday and instead found himself at junior club Lochee United, happy to perform at a decent level but acutely aware was extremely unlikely to have a mark on the senior game.

And yet there he was warming up under the floodlights and stealing glances at the rapidly filling stands as he tried to identify his family and friends among the travelling Dundee support. Five months past his 30th birthday and with the No9 shirt on his back, Robertson was about to make his professional debut for his beloved Dark Blues in a game that had huge implications for the future of the club. How could this have happened?

An accountant’s office is an unpromising setting for a tale of footballing romance but it was there that Robertson’s Roy of the Rovers story began one Monday in February 2011. Despite his own playing commitments at Lochee, Robertson’s passion for Dundee remained undiminished. He was due to attend their match at Raith Rovers the following evening and, having injured his foot while training with Lochee, he could pass on driving duties if he fancied a few beers.

As his thoughts drifted from spreadsheets to the game, he noticed a missed call from his Lochee manager, Paul Ritchie, who presumably wanted to check up on his injury. After an exchange of pleasantries, Ritchie uttered seven words his midfielder had dreamed of hearing since he was old enough to know what football was: “How do you fancy playing for Dundee?”

“Obviously I was stunned,” says Robertson. “But I thought it could be a wind-up, so I wasn’t totally committing in case the call was being recorded. I just kept saying: ‘Honestly? Are you being serious?’”

Ritchie was being serious. Dundee had entered administration and faced a fight for survival, a battle Robertson had himself aided by donating the £14,000 proceeds of his testimonial match against the Dark Blues. On the park, the rump squad manager Barry Smith had at his disposal were performing miracles. A pool of just 12 senior players supplemented by teenagers, trialists, loanees and legends coming out of retirement had gone on a 15-game unbeaten run as they sought to overcome a 25-point deduction imposed by the Scottish Football League.

Dundee – who were banned from signing players until they exited administration – were dealing with the personnel shortage by exploiting a registration loophole that allowed them to play trialists for up to three games each. Having become aware of Robertson’s talents at his testimonial, Smith sought to bolster his squad with a player who would give more for the cause than anyone. His was the next call Robertson took.

“My heart was thumping but, until I heard Barry Smith’s voice, I was still half-thinking it was a joke,” says Roberton. “Barry just said that, if I wanted to, I would be playing for Dundee the next night. He asked me if I had any hesitations and I said no. He asked how I would feel if I was starting and I said that’d be fine. Then he asked if I was fit and I honestly never thought to mention the injury.”

In a daze, Robertson called his father, who had first taken him to Dens Park as a four-year-old, and then his brothers. “Once he got over the shock, my older brother launched straight into a pep talk. He was giving me lifestyle advice, telling me to start stretching immediately and get out for a run that night then go straight to bed. We’re all massive Dundee fans. It was a huge thing for them as well. Work were great about it. I think they thought I was taking the mick. ‘He wants a half-day off, at a day’s notice, to go and play for this team he’s always banging on about? Aye right’.”

Following an unproductive morning in the office, Robertson met up with the Dundee-based members of the squad for the coach journey to Kirkcaldy. He sat on his own and felt the first flutter of nerves. “There were only a few of us who got on in Dundee, but all the Glasgow and Edinburgh lads were at the hotel where we were meeting. Walking in there was far worse than the thought of the actual game. They were playing for their livelihoods and must’ve been thinking: ‘Who is this guy? Is he going to mess up our run? Can we trust him with a pass?’ In the end, everyone was pleasant enough and no one made a big deal of it.

“Barry came up and asked where did I want to start, left wing or in the middle? I was being asked to pick where I played for Dundee! I’d played out wide when I was younger but as I’d got older I’d moved inside, so I said I would stick there. He just wanted me to feel as comfortable as possible and not to make a fuss over me. He told me to go out and do what I’d been doing all season.”

Dundee’s change kit was doled out in the dressing room and Robertson was handed the No9 shirt. “I can’t remember thinking ‘was I good enough?’ beforehand because it all happened so quickly. I just floated through on adrenaline without any major concerns. Then it hit me a bit in the warm-up as I looked at the big away support under the floodlights and was like: ‘Shit, I’m actually away to play here.’

“I could see my wife-to-be and her family but I couldn’t see my family. My mum, dad, both my brothers and a couple of carfuls of mates were there. They’ve told me on numerous occasions since that it was the proudest moment of their time supporting Dundee, which means a lot.”

A lot of Dundee supporters have said to me that I was living their dream for them. What a great thing to hear Craig Robertson

The adrenaline coursing through his body helped anaesthetise his foot and a couple of early touches settled his nerves. He grew into the game with every completed pass and played his part as Dundee won 2-1. “It’s one of the biggest nights of my life and I can actually remember very little about it,” Robertson laughs. “I remember a couple of passes and thinking that if I committed another foul I’d probably get booked, so I had to be careful. That was about it. I wasn’t trying anything too fancy. Don’t get beat and don’t give it away – that was all I wanted to do.”

Robertson left Stark’s Park with praise from Smith ringing in his ears as he basked in the glory of a lifetime’s ambition being realised. He lay in bed unfussed by his inability to sleep as he replayed the events of the previous 36 hours in his head. It was a tired man who returned to the world of accountancy the following day.

“Going back into work was surreal. A few colleagues were Dundee fans and one had been there. Others had been following the game. Everyone wanted to talk about it. I didn’t do a scrap of work. I just hid behind my computer screen reading match reports and trying to find my rating out of 10!”

Having waited 30 years to make his first senior appearance, his second followed quickly. Morton visited Dens Park a few days after the Raith match, but his home debut proved tougher. “There was a four-day build-up, the adrenaline had worn off and I was thinking about all kinds of stuff. I would be playing for Dundee at Dens. I’d be wearing the dark blue this time rather than the away strip. I kept thinking about all the great No9s who have played at Dens. All these stupid things were going through my head.”

While an early touch at Raith had helped Robertson settle, the ball getting stuck under his boot during the warm-up on a rock-hard, heavily sanded pitch added to his insecurities. A dull 1-1 draw provided scant entertainment but one group of supporters enjoyed the occasion more than most.

“I had just got changed when I was told there were some fans in hospitality who wanted to see me. There were about 50 guys on a stag do, all hammered – guys I knew and faces I’d seen home and away for 20 years. They were all singing my name. It was pretty comical.”

Before Robertson left the stadium, Smith took him aside and told him he would be returning to Lochee temporarily but would definitely play his final trial game at some point. He was told to look after himself and “not to do anything stupid at weekends.” When the call came a few weeks later, it meant ducking out of his own stag do.

“There were about 30-40 boys meeting up on the Saturday night but I got the call beforehand that I was needed to play against Dunfermline in a couple of days. I ended up having two pints and going up the road early. I couldn’t get smashed so close to the game, so the guys had my stag do for me.”

Robertson watched on from the bench as title-chasing Dunfermline took a first-half lead and threatened that long unbeaten run. An injury just after the hour-mark forced Smith to make a change and Robertson ran out under the Dens Park floodlights for his last game in dark blue. Ten minutes later, Dundee equalised against the run of play.

Then, in the dying minutes, the ball sat up nicely for him on the edge of the box. He had scored dozens of goals from just such a position over the years and now had the opportunity to grab a last-minute winner for his boyhood heroes. But instead of shooting, the amateur did the professional thing and squared the ball to a teammate. Dundee didn’t score a winner but they did see out the game comfortably to stretch their run to 22 games.

Does he ever regret not taking his shot at glory? “I’ve thought about it a lot over over the years. The first thing my wife said after the game was ‘why didn’t you just shoot?’ but in the moment I honestly didn’t really think about grabbing the winner or anything like that. Since then I must have had 50 people telling me I should have hit it but for every single minute I played it was in my head not to do anything stupid. I didn’t want to be in any way responsible for ending that run. I was asked to keep things simple and that’s what I did.”

Seven years on, Robertson remains as committed to Dundee as ever. He is a season-ticket holder, his wife is also a lifelong supporter and their two daughters have already heard all about the time their daddy played for their team.

“If someone had said to me at 16 that I would get three games for Dundee I would have bit their hand off. I got to play more professional games than most guys who signed full-time when they left school. And for my team in a special season for them. A lot of Dundee supporters have said to me that I was living their dream for them. I mean, what a great thing to hear. I still can’t believe how lucky I am.”

• This is an extract from Nutmeg magazine

• Read the full article in Issue 9, which is out now

• Nutmeg and Grant Hill are on Twitter

