Jump to content

Dundee v ICT - Preview - Matchday


Guest

Recommended Posts

Hopeless for 70 minutes. Slightly less hopeless for 20.  It would have been a robbery had we equalised.  Big game on Saturday now, need 3 points before we find ourselves worried about the wrong playoffs.

  • Agree 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, WYNESS101 said:

Toddy and Carson must start on Saturday. Least they changed the game by coming on apart from that can't really take much from the game Dundee were the better side

I agree. Other than when Storey was through on goal, I don’t recall much from the starting front four. Keatings was lively but Sutherland and Mackay had little impact.

We bypassed the midfield first half so Welsh and Allardice could not have any positive impact. Carson made a difference and I’d like to see how we play with him and Allardice as the central pairing.

The other difference was the good use Dundee made of wide areas, whereas we were ineffective playing wide other than when Duffy and Harper were rarely able to get forward. Harper played a great cross for our goal, but as we were pinned back we struggled to have any width.

What a contrast from the first half hour on Friday.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

After all the positives from the Hearts game, that was a real let down. 4 wins from 16 league games is not the form required for promotion.  

  • Agree 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Grim, grim, grim.

Dundee well on top at the start and although we pushed them back a bit they quickly re-established their dominance. They knew a high press against our back line would work given McCann's preference to play out from the back and players were often caught in possession.

Meanwhile, our defence looked haphazard any time a cross or long throw came anywhere near it. McDaid turning Duffy inside out for a good chunk of the first half before he eventually realised he could nullify him by sending him towards the bye line was criminal in how long it took to be employed. By that time though the damage was largely done. 

McMullan was ripping Harper apart on the ICT left and he sent in a cross that found Max Anderson as he burst into the penalty area and although Ridgers did well to save his first effort the Dee player made no mistake at the second time of asking and put Dundee 1 - 0 up.

We rallied a little to push the home side back a bit and had some half chances but Dundee took a deserved two goal lead when a high ball into the box was missed and it landed at the feet of Cummings who spun round and whipped the ball into the net. 

Prior to this Dundee had great chances falling the way of Mullen, Cummings and Anderson who all had goal bound efforts blocked by Deas or Ridgers. It was one way traffic in the first half and ICT could count themselves fortunate not to be further behind.

Second half was less eventful overall compared to the first. A suspiciously offside looking Storey broke through the Dundee defence but shot straight at Hamilton as the angle narrowed whilst Sow blazed over after good work by Cummings on a Dundee counter attack. 

We did get one goal back when Harper sent over a delicious cross from the left touchline to find Toddy at the back post and he thumped a header past the flailing Hamilton. A similar move almost lead to an ill deserved equaliser but this time the header went wide.

Grim performance from us. As has been the case at times this season we at poor for about 75% of the game then improve markedly for the final 15 to 20 minutes or and look like we might do something. I know we have important creative players like Doran and McDonald out but we should be still be doing better than we are. We created precious little for most of that game it is extremely concerning going into a very tough game on Saturday against Alloa. Go behind in that and I don't fancy our chances of turning it around into a much needed 3 points.

  • Agree 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That could be a huge 6 pointer for the whole league. Suddenly the top 4 have a touch of breathing space. I hate to say it but we maybe need to look down more than up. Our next 2 games could be huge in that regard. I think we have a young squad that could be dangerous next season (with a couple of less injury prone more experienced pros beside them) but we have to make sure we are still in this league. Most dropped points this season have been preventable but sounds like tonight was a merited defeat.

  • Agree 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

One win in TEN is totally, totally UNACCEPTABLE imho, girn at that statement as much as you want but as you know, I'm entitled to an opinion, and that is mine. 

 

It's as if the duds don't give a s**t about John Robertson or Scott Kellacher because, if they did, they would put in much better performances than that pish week in, week out.  Our defending would not be tolerated in THE HIGHLAND LEAGUE FFS, let alone this league and our strikers are so toothless it's becoming a big worry. 

 

Major changes needed in the summer, preferably to the defence, we need shot of duds like McKay etc that are bombscares, surely we can unearth more gems like Deas! 

I'm getting sick fed up with all this Dross that gets put out every damn match, they need to LEARN from the mistakes not repeat them ffs! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, CaleyTennis said:

One win in TEN is totally, totally UNACCEPTABLE imho, girn at that statement as much as you want but as you know, I'm entitled to an opinion, and that is mine. 

 

It's as if the duds don't give a s**t about John Robertson or Scott Kellacher because, if they did, they would put in much better performances than that pish week in, week out.  Our defending would not be tolerated in THE HIGHLAND LEAGUE FFS, let alone this league and our strikers are so toothless it's becoming a big worry. 

 

Major changes needed in the summer, preferably to the defence, we need shot of duds like McKay etc that are bombscares, surely we can unearth more gems like Deas! 

I'm getting sick fed up with all this Dross that gets put out every damn match, they need to LEARN from the mistakes not repeat them ffs! 

Brad Mckay only came on as a sub in 77 minutes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, CaleyTennis said:

One win in TEN is totally, totally UNACCEPTABLE imho, girn at that statement as much as you want but as you know, I'm entitled to an opinion, and that is mine. 

 

It's as if the duds don't give a s**t about John Robertson or Scott Kellacher because, if they did, they would put in much better performances than that pish week in, week out.  Our defending would not be tolerated in THE HIGHLAND LEAGUE FFS, let alone this league and our strikers are so toothless it's becoming a big worry. 

 

Major changes needed in the summer, preferably to the defence, we need shot of duds like McKay etc that are bombscares, surely we can unearth more gems like Deas! 

I'm getting sick fed up with all this Dross that gets put out every damn match, they need to LEARN from the mistakes not repeat them ffs! 

I understand your anger, I think we all do. We are we are and have no finances for wholesale changes. We have to go with what we have. We have also been dogged by injuries which hasn't helped. The current disruption with the management team is beyond the control of the club but they have done well to secure an interim manager. This hasn't helped out cause on the pitch. As the song goes...things can only get better. [They have to]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It certainly has to because we cannot afford to fall any lower!

I expect a reaction on Saturday and tbh, its a must win if we are to have any chance of reaching play offs (which is still achieveable amazingly), I still believe that we will be good enough to avoid the bottom 2 but our abysmal record of 1 in 10 means that we can't afford any more slip ups against Alloa or Morton in our next 2 matches.

 

I get that injuries are problematic for us but we can't use that as an excuse, every team gets injuries during a season. The lack of matches is a very good point though so hopefully now we are back to full fit instead of being rusty.

 

Anything other than 6pts from the next 2 and questions will need asked of the players commitment to the team because, me and others, are of the opinion that the players are playing like they don't care about a) the pride of wearing the strip and b) the troubles the management team have had this season.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am feeling pretty worried.

We have:

- a thin squad that we can't reinforce

-a defence that lacks confidence and rarely keeps a clean sheet

- no reliable goalscorer

- a pretty exhausting run of matches

- managerial upheaval

- no fans to rally the players

 

This seems like the perfect recipe for a complete collapse, to be honest. If relegation can happen to Falkirk or Partick Thistle, it can happen to us.

 

The game on Saturday is huge; lose that and we are in massive trouble.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Really need to dig in for the points - not just in the next few games - but for every remaining league game to ensure safety.

Performances in recent seasons have shown staggering levels of (in)consistency, and I believe the problems are deeply embedded in our playing and management set ups.

Whichever way this season goes I think we are at a very real fork in the road. 

Big decisions will need to be made.

  • Well Said 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Biggest problem for me is a lack of leaders. When I look at the team don't see many players who respond when the chips are down or we need to buck up. It is normal with a relatively young side. If we have allardice, magregor, Mackay, Duffy, Deas and Harper playing almost half our team our much over 21 therefore limited experience.

 

Most concerning is the defence. Harper, Duffy and Deas are just learning the game. An experienced leader beside them would be great but is something we don't have unfortunately. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, FrontRow said:

This is a season for surviving, rebuilding and getting youngsters in. The first of those three is most important. 

Couldn't agree more, yes we want promotion, but in reality that was perhaps a tall order, although most of the clubs around us are in the same situation. At the start of the season Hearts and probably Dundee would have been see as our main rivals, but Raith I think have surprised a few, and Dunfermline have come on strong this season. In a small league that leaves little margin for error.

Before the two games against Hearts and Dundee, we might have accepted a loss to the former and something from the latter, so does last nights result register higher than a good point against Hearts?

I rather think that losing Kennedy, with no replacement is a blow to the possibility of a play-off position, esepcially as Doran is injured and has looked fairly average when he has played and of course McDonald [if he was Kennedy's replacement] will probably play no part at all.

So we need to re-focus our aspirations to surviving, and in our favour is that we are not losing many games, and certainly not shipping goals, this season is going to be a nail-biter in a different way!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That video of the first goal does nothing to dispel my feeling that Welsh defended poorly by losing Anderson. You can see Welsh tracking back but he comes fixated on the ball and Anderson runs in behind him into space ahead of Devine (I think) where he is picked out.

Not the first time recently our midfielders have failed to properly track opposition runners.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • tm4tj unpinned this topic

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. : Terms of Use : Guidelines : Privacy Policy