KDeeM Trophy Time

Dundee B are up North on Tuesday night at 7:45pm in the KDM Trophy group stages part of the event (pre knock out). The Challenge Cup is a bit of a convoluted competition this season with a thirty team group stages league competing for twenty places in the knockout stages once the Championship sides enter the event to give you a straight thirty-two team knockout competition. At the moment, after three games, Premiership 'B' teams fill 8 of the bottom 10 places which means as it stands only two Lower League teams would be eliminated after the League phase with only Celtic and St Mirren B teams progressing and only Annan Athletic and Stirling Albion dropping out. Inverness are one of four teams on maximum points midway through the league stages, the others being Stenhousemuir, Montrose and Edinburgh City.

The Caley Jags will be buoyed by their recent League form. Four wins on the trot, scoring six times and all clean sheets. Stirling Albion were the last team to score against us in the last KDM fixture at the beginning of the month, and it took a wonderful strike to hit the net. It all depends on what team we put out but also remember to keep some match winners on the bench just in case. Might be an opportunity to get Ross Millen, Paul Allan, Alfie Bavidge and Adam MacKinnon back up to speed as they continue their comebacks. I'm sure the likes of Mathew Strachan, Mitchell Robertson and Jordan Alonge will be itching to get a start.

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The Caley Jags squad we had on duty against Stirling Albion in our last KDM Trophy fixture. Despite there being a fair spattering of first team regulars, we made extremely hard work in winning the points. It took a 94th minute direct from a corner kick strike by Liam Sole to clinch the winner after a great display by Stirling Albion keeper Robert Duffy.

The Binos had taken the lead with a tremendous strike by Ross Cunningham after half an hour. Chanka Zimba pulled us level five minutes later and that's how it stood until well into time added on when Sole produced the winner.

• Bar 94 will be open and the matchday bus service will be operating for the Challenge Cup game against Dundee that kicks off at 1945 on Tuesday 23 September.

• Bar 94 will open at 1730, with last orders at 1915 (the bar must be fully vacated by 1930). The bar reopens at full time.

• A bus will leave the Bus Station for the Stadium at 1900, returning from the Stadium 10 minutes after the full time whistle.

• The bus fare is £2.70 single (contactless payments or cash accepted), and Over 60 / Disabled and Under 22 Concession passes are valid, giving free travel on the service to passholders.

Dundee B put this team together to face Forfar Athletic in their last fixture. After opening the scoring in the 18th minute through Finlay Allan, the Dee's young loons went down 4-1 to their hosts, the Forfar Loons.

21	ArabB	3	-2	3
22	Binos	3	-2	3
23	Annan	3	-3	1
24	Well B	3	-6	1
25	Gers B	3	-5	0
26	Jam B	3	-6	0
27	Killi B	3	-6	0
28	Don B	3	-7	0
29	Dee B	3	-7	0
30	Hibs B	3	-7	0

Position 21-30 will be eliminated

It's fair to say that the teams at the top end of the table have probably already secured their knock-out status although a couple of wins for the Arabs or Binos could lift them into contention.

• Adults: £10, Concessions: £5 (Over 65s & Under 16s)

• Buy tickets HERE

• Tickets for this match available in the Main Stand only with Section Lower F available for Dundee B supporters.

• Also available in-store from the Club Shop and over the phone during opening hours (Mon-Fri, 9.30am – 4pm)

• Open on Matchday, 10am – KO.

• Under 16s Tickets are not available online but are available in-store from the Sarens PSG Stadium or over the phone on 01463 222880 during office hours.

Just heading down and hoping for another good game.

That's us...

• Kieran O’Hara (GK) &

• Aaron Donnelly (CB) feature from the 1st team.

• Charlie Reilly making his first start since injury.

HALF TIME 3-0

First half goals from Mitchell Robertson, Jordan Alonge and Billy Mckay had Inverness in the driving seat at the interval. Charlie Reilly had smacked the bar in the best moment for the visitors.

After the interval Paul Allan added a fourth and Alfie Bavidge knocked in a fifth with Sole the provider for both goals before he notched one for himself.

FULL TIME: 6-0

What can you say?

Not sure this experiment needs to be repeated but that's another doing for a B team. The bottom 8 places are occupied by B teams. 😮

I’m enjoying the Challenge Cup as it is letting us see players who would otherwise get limited game time, and with a large squad that is valuable.

It’s letting Adam MacKinnon and Paul Allan, for example, get minutes in them after injury.

It was a routine win and could have been more but for several good saves by the Dundee goalie.

MacKinnon ran the show, especially in the second half. Alonge scored a goal of the season contender. Robertson again looked the part. Kerr and Sam Thompson did not look out of place after they came on.

Yes I’d rather see Highland League teams involved rather than B teams, but I cannot see the format changing.

However, win promotion and we go straight in at the last 32 stage and that has to be our aim.

So to sum up, a useful competition given the size of our squad, getting minutes into players and showing the competition we have for places in the league starting line up.

And it’s nice to see us top of the table!

Another very good performance from all the team including those that have not had much game time and the two young subs that came on later! Good passing and movement and six good goals from different players! The only real chance Dundee had was rattling the bar in the first half. Well done to the management and all the team for a very good game to watch

It’s also worth noting that Dundee’s goalie made six saves, several of them excellent, which kept the score down.

6 goals, 6 different scorers. Only time I've seen that bettered was our famous 7 goal hammering of Ayr.

Great showing all round and some players will be giving Kellacher food for thought when it comes to squad selection for league matches.

As it stands I believe it’s Kelty or Elgin in the last 32. Home or away.

If you do nothing else today, watch Jordan Alonge's THUNDERBASTARD strike

13 hours ago, tm4tj said:

What can you say?

Not sure this experiment needs to be repeated but that's another doing for a B team. The bottom 8 places are occupied by B teams. 😮

I guess it depends on which side of the fence you sit on. Having one big group makes it very stark what is happening. In England the Premier League U21 teams can partake in the League 1/League 2 trophy (whatever it's current name is) but they rarely get out of the regionalised groups of 4.

I suppose it gives young players experience of what it will take to make it in the game (and coaches a better insight as to who may have the ability to do so), and for those 1st teams involved the chance to rotate players and give minutes to those not currently starting in the league, or coming back from injury.

I can see both sides but have no strong opinion either way - probably fall on the side of not having B teams involved if push comes to shove.

I take your point Mr Hammer about including top flight B teams from a Premiership team’s point of view, but I’d much rather see the top teams from the Highland and Lowland leagues if it has to be one or the other.

Good result and performance all round...

...but it did have the feel of a training ground bounce game.

The worst of the 'B' teams I've seen yet. That's got to be a confidence knock for some of those kids.

2 hours ago, The Hammer said:

I guess it depends on which side of the fence you sit on. Having one big group makes it very stark what is happening. In England the Premier League U21 teams can partake in the League 1/League 2 trophy (whatever it's current name is) but they rarely get out of the regionalised groups of 4.

I suppose it gives young players experience of what it will take to make it in the game (and coaches a better insight as to who may have the ability to do so), and for those 1st teams involved the chance to rotate players and give minutes to those not currently starting in the league, or coming back from injury.

I can see both sides but have no strong opinion either way - probably fall on the side of not having B teams involved if push comes to shove.

Honestly, I've had enough of the B Teams experiment.

They were shoehorned into the Lowland League under the guise of development, but here we are, 4 or 5 years later, and I still don’t see the benefit. Not once have they finished top of the league – sure, they've been close, but that just proves the level isn’t doing much to push them further. If you look at the league table and add up the points gained by the B teams so far it totals the following:
5 Wins | 3 Draws | 30 Defeats

What’s the point? Crowds are non-existent for these games. no one wants to watch Dundee B take on Annan Athletic etc and with crowds of around 100-150 this point has been proven. The atmosphere’s flat, the interest isn’t there, and it feels like a vanity project more than anything else.

Most lower league sides don’t field full-strength teams in the early rounds anyway, so now we’ve got youth players facing second-string squads. Is that really development?

If this is supposed to be about improving the quality of young players, where’s the evidence? Celtic B have been in the Lowland League for years now. I can't name many if any that have started to make their way into the squad bar Colby Donovan who is only there through injuries to Ralston and Johnston.

For me, it’s always been more beneficial to loan these lads out to proper senior squads in League One or the Championship, where they learn alongside experienced pros in competitive environments. Or bring back the old reserve league – let them play with guys coming back from injury or fringe first teamers needing game time. That’s where the real learning happens.

Ditch the B Teams please. It’s time to admit it’s not working and focus on better, proven pathways for developing young players

Well we can add Celtic and St Mirren B to the list of teams that lost this round so I totally agree with ditching them for Highland and Lowland League teams because I'm fairly certain that a team like Brora or even Wick (who are struggling in the HL at the moment) would have given us a harder game than Dundee B 🤔.

I also expect a tough game against Dundee Utd B but remember that they lost to Spartans yesterday so maybe I am over estimating how good Utd B are 🤔.

Celtic B are 15th on 6 pts from 2 wins

21	SaintsB	4	-3	4
22	Binos	4	-3	3
23	Arab B	4	-3	3
24	Hea B	4	-5	3
25	Hib B	4	-7	1
26	Well B	4	-9	1
27	Gers B	4	-6	0
28	Dons B	4	-8	0
29	Kill B	4	-9	0
30	Dee B	4	-13	0

20 hours ago, ICTPaisley said:

Honestly, I've had enough of the B Teams experiment.

They were shoehorned into the Lowland League under the guise of development, but here we are, 4 or 5 years later, and I still don’t see the benefit. Not once have they finished top of the league – sure, they've been close, but that just proves the level isn’t doing much to push them further. If you look at the league table and add up the points gained by the B teams so far it totals the following:
5 Wins | 3 Draws | 30 Defeats

What’s the point? Crowds are non-existent for these games. no one wants to watch Dundee B take on Annan Athletic etc and with crowds of around 100-150 this point has been proven. The atmosphere’s flat, the interest isn’t there, and it feels like a vanity project more than anything else.

Most lower league sides don’t field full-strength teams in the early rounds anyway, so now we’ve got youth players facing second-string squads. Is that really development?

If this is supposed to be about improving the quality of young players, where’s the evidence? Celtic B have been in the Lowland League for years now. I can't name many if any that have started to make their way into the squad bar Colby Donovan who is only there through injuries to Ralston and Johnston.

For me, it’s always been more beneficial to loan these lads out to proper senior squads in League One or the Championship, where they learn alongside experienced pros in competitive environments. Or bring back the old reserve league – let them play with guys coming back from injury or fringe first teamers needing game time. That’s where the real learning happens.

Ditch the B Teams please. It’s time to admit it’s not working and focus on better, proven pathways for developing young players

Yip, it’s a relatively new discussion on here but it’s been debated in the LL for years. Rangers dropped out after a couple of years. Page upon page of discussion in p&b and almost unanimously against.

The whole thing is unfair on the 16 proper teams in the LL as the Hearts and Celtic teams change so much in strength from week to week due to competing elsewhere.