Mckayless Jags at Dens

 

 

After two defeats in a row from the then bottom club Hamilton Accies we now have a run of away championship games starting at Dens Park on Saturday. Its a 3:00pm start at the Kilmac Stadium as we look to get back in amongst the play-off places at the top end of the table. Its a big ask given our last couple of results and we will be without the suspended Billy Mckay who is the only man keeping us above the relegation play-offs. Dundee have faltered recently as well and we did win at Dens Park earlier in the season which was an unexpected bonus. So all is not lost yet, but the mindset at the moment for most fans is do we have the right management team in charge? Not according to those that were at Hamilton.

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Match/Ticket/Supporters Bus Info

Mathew Strachan

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Venue H2H v Dundee

Pld

Won

Drn

Lst

For

Agst

+ / -

Home	17	7	8	2	27	16	+11
Away	20	7	8	5	28	25	+3
Neutral	2	0	0	2	2	4	-2
Total	39	14	16	9	57	45	+12

We still hold the overall edge over Dundee but draws are the most common results. Dundee sit second in the table on 42 points with a game in hand over leaders Queens Park who are on 44 points. Inverness are lurking in seventh place and well off the pace with 32 points.

Last 10 Competitive Meetings

0 - 1 (H)

3 - 2 (A)

1 - 1 (H)

1 - 2 (A)

2 - 2 (H)

2 - 0 (A)

1 - 0 (H)

0 - 0 (A)

0 - 1 (A)

0 - 1 (H)

Here's the recent form table..... not good reading to be honest. Had we beaten Accies twice we would be top and they would be in our position.

Overall Home Away   Pos Team Pld W D L F A W D L F A W D L F A +/- Pts Peer through your fingers if easily offended 1. Hamilton Ac. 6 4 1 1 8 3 2 1 0 4 2 2 0 1 4 1 +5 13 2. Raith Rovers 6 2 4 0 9 7 0 2 0 3 3 2 2 0 6 4 +2 10 3. Partick Thistle 6 3 0 3 8 6 2 0 2 7 4 1 0 1 1 2 +2 9 4. Queens Park 6 2 2 2 11 7 1 1 0 3 1 1 1 2 8 6 +4 8 5. Dundee 6 2 2 2 10 7 2 0 1 8 4 0 2 1 2 3 +3 8 6. Arbroath 6 2 2 2 11 12 0 0 2 2 6 2 2 0 9 6 -1 8 7. Ayr United 6 2 1 3 8 7 1 1 2 3 5 1 0 1 5 2 +1 7 8. Morton 6 2 1 3 8 9 2 0 1 5 4 0 1 2 3 5 -1 7 9. Inverness CT 6 1 3 2 9 10 0 2 1 2 5 1 1 1 7 5 -1 6 10. Cove Rangers 6 1 2 3 4 17 0 2 2 3 14 1 0 1 1 3 -13 5

Friday 24th Feb19:45 Raith Rovers 0-0 Ayr United   Saturday 25th Feb      Arbroath v Partick Thistle Dundee FC v Inverness CT  Hamilton v Queen's Pk  Morton v Cove Ran

The last meeting at Dens Park saw us take a surprise 3 - 2  win: From CTO - Harper stuns Dundee: The first meeting of the sides this season ended in victory for the visitors. Dundee took an early lead through Sweeney but Cammy Harper levelled almost immediately with a curling shot from outside the box. Austin Samuels day was over five minutes before the interval. Just on the break Billy Mckay scored from the spot to put the visitors ahead after Harper had been fouled. Paul McMullan made it all square ten minutes after the interval although that goal has now been attributed to Joe Grayson. However, man of the match Harper restored the visitors advantage from twenty-five yards with seven minutes left. That ended the scoring and sealed the points before Sweeney was sent off for a second bookable offence as the game slipped away from Dundee.

Last time out

Inverness flopped at Hamilton, the second reverse against the same side in three days. A 3-0 drubbing at Inverness was followed by a 2-1 defeat at Hamilton, although had we taken our chances at New Douglas Park things might have worked out differently. They didn't and to rub salt in the wound Billy Mckay was sent off. Meh!

Dundee lost 1-0 to Morton last Friday as points become hard to get at both ends of the table. That was after a 3-0 beating of Cove Rangers the previous Sunday.

Latest Team news

Billy Mckay is suspended after being sent off at Hamilton. Mathew Strachan, our promising young defender has been loaned out to Nairn County for the remainder of the season, no doubt the return of Harper, Deas and Delaney drove that option. The Duracell Bunny that is David Carson took a thigh knock against Accies and is a doubt, but he's a tough cookie so we'll see how that turns out. Austin Samuels will probably replace Mckay and he will be glad to get the chance to play again at Dens Park as that was the start of his injury problems back in September 2022. He has had a couple of cameo slots on his return and may not be 100% yet. Still waiting for five to return from injury: Sutherland, Walsh, Macgregor (close to a return), Ram and Ben Woods.

 

Since we last played Dundee:

Loan in: Lorent Tolaj, forward (Brighton & Hove Albion); Barry Maguire, midfielder (Motherwell); Luke Hannant, midfielder (Colchester United); Kwame Thomas, forward (Sutton United). Zach Robinson has returned on loan from Wimbledon. (never knew he played tennis)

Out: Niall McGinn, forward (Glentoran); Derick Osei, forward.

Loan ended: Joe Grayson, defender (Barrow).

Loan out: Zack Rudden, forward (St Johnstone); Luke Strachan, defender (Alloa Athletic), Paul McGowan is on Loan at Dunfermline for the rest of the season. Euan Mutale is at Albion Rovers.

Yellow card for Jay Henderson 89 minutes

Aaron Doran replaces Jay Henderson 90 minutes

Full time 1-1

Ten minutes after the break Inverness drew level when Harper's low drive took a big deflection off Sweeney to end up in the net. They all count Billy Dodds made a triple substitution after that bringing on Robbie Deas, Steven Boyd and Dan Mackay with Devine, Harper and Samuels going off. Ridgers denied Josh Mulligan as he shot from inside the box and then blocked the follow up with twenty minutes to go. Bowyer did his own triple sub: Triple sub for Dundee - Clampin, Hannant & McCowan for Marshall, Mulligan and McMullan. Shaw shot over and with five minutes remaining a McGhee header came back off the top of the bar and over. Cameron hit the bar as well with a looped header as Dundee pressed for a winner with Inverness defending desperately. Fortunately we saw out the game for a valuable point on the road.

Cant complain about a point away at Dungdee - but what about tactics - and other results have gone our way from a relegation persepective at least - Spiders are looking good

Thanks, folks.

BBC website says:  "Second Half begins Dundee 1, Inverness CT 0."

We can still do it! 

1 minute ago, snorbens_caleyman said:

Thanks, folks.

BBC website says:  "Second Half begins Dundee 1, Inverness CT 0."

We can still do it! 

They must be on strike!

It’s not a bad result in isolation. The Hamilton games are the ones that seem to have put the (promotion) play-offs out of realistic reach.

 

Looking increasingly likely that Dundee Utd will be in the Championship next season, and decreasingly likely that Liam Fox will be their manager much longer.

16 minutes ago, Yngwie said:

It’s not a bad result in isolation. The Hamilton games are the ones that seem to have put the (promotion) play-offs out of realistic reach.

 

I’d have taken a point at Dens when looking at the run of fixtures 10 days ago, but 0/6 against Hamilton has done for us. 

First draft

 

Right stop messing about it's time we went on a run. 😃 

A pretty fortunate point from where I was sitting. Started ok but usual train crash for the pen drained any confidence and the rest of first half was a real struggle. Second half was marginally better with a very fortunate deflection getting us back in the game. A frankly bizarre decision to remove Devine and Harper before the hour mark. Unless Harper was carrying a knock completely inexcusable. Mark Ridgers deserves credit for 2 or 3 excellent saves later on to deny the Dees all 3 points. 1 point up the road not moving the dial in a truly lamentable season.

 

5 hours ago, Yngwie said:

Looking increasingly likely that Dundee Utd will be in the Championship next season, and decreasingly likely that Liam Fox will be their manager much longer.

Sounds a great opportunity for a former united player to get in there...........

Fortune favours the brave...

Comments on the performance, the tactics and player monitoring. How did Carson look, where did he play Harper and Delaney - what was Shaw like and did Samuels look sharp ?

I’d have take the point before the game and it seems we got a break with the heavy deflection for the equaliser.

Like IHE, I’d be interested to hear how our players did individually.

I saw the comment about Harper so assume he did well in midfield: was he in an advanced role on the left (ie the position Mackay has been in)?

Dundee should have won that. Laughable offside(s), some good saves from Ridgers and bad misses saved us. We had some reasonable half chances ourselves but nothing compared to the Dees. Still, it was hilarious seeing the wee Ultra gimps celebrating their goal for about 3 minutes before twigging that it had been disallowed.

No one really stood out for us I'd say. Samuels was utterly anonymous for the time he was on the pitch and showed what a miss Mckay is when we don't have him available. There wasn't much creative spark in that side apart from maybe Henderson and he faded after the equaliser. Not sure how Shaw stayed on for so long. I feel like Doran coming on and playing as a 10 was a sub we should have made long before he did actually arrive. 

Overall we still looked disjointed for large parts of the game and bereft of confidence. It's hard not to look at the players and question if they are really playing for the manager any more. It doesn't seem like it to me. The chants towards Dodds cannot have gone unnoticed by the club. Surely it's time to put him out of his misery.

9 hours ago, IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER said:

Comments on the performance, the tactics and player monitoring. How did Carson look, where did he play Harper and Delaney - what was Shaw like and did Samuels look sharp ?

 

1 hour ago, Robert said:

I’d have take the point before the game and it seems we got a break with the heavy deflection for the equaliser.

Like IHE, I’d be interested to hear how our players did individually.

I saw the comment about Harper so assume he did well in midfield: was he in an advanced role on the left (ie the position Mackay has been in)?

Delany played on the left side of defence with Harper in front. Shaw continued to play as a 10 behind Samuels. Shaw certainly put in a lot of running but struggled to create much of note. Samuels was a nonentity for most of the game not helped by us shellacking long balls in his general direction. Carson was fine defensively but offered less going forward than he did against Hamilton on Tuesday.

As others have said, Dundee United may well be joining us in the Championship next season. 

If not them, the others in the relegation scrap are likely to be hot favourites to bounce straight back. While not guaranteed, it would point to our hopes again resting of a play off position.

We have never had a better chance given the quality of the teams during the last I'd say 3  seasons to challenge at the top for automatic promotion but have just completely blown it.

Complete change urgently needed.

 

 

 

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Dodd's interview totally pathetic and unconvincing.

'Flair players'.............................you have got to be feckin' joking.

His interviews have been like that for a while!

 

I'm counting down the days until he's off but tbh that can't come quickly enough! 

The personal insults shouted at Dodds were pathetic. I’m no Dodds fanboy but that was a disgrace on Saturday.

12 hours ago, CaleyTennis said:

His interviews have been like that for a while!

 

I'm counting down the days until he's off but tbh that can't come quickly enough! 

I've not listened to any of his thoughts and excuses all year. Same old, same old and no clues as to how he's going to fix the on field problems.

18 hours ago, Pele_Is_God said:

The personal insults shouted at Dodds were pathetic. I’m no Dodds fanboy but that was a disgrace on Saturday.

Pretty hard to tell someone to GTF without it being personal!!!....or was their more to it?