DEE DAY.

 

There's no going back now, Dee Day is upon us and it's virtually win or bust as Dundee visit the Caledonian Stadium at 7:00pm on Tuesday evening for a crunch game. With Dunfermline picking up more crucial points since their thrashing at Raith they now have two very winnable games coming up over Arbroath and Alloa whilst we face Dundee, arguably the best squad of individuals in the Championship, followed by the best team in promoted Hearts away, then a tough final game against relegation threatened Ayr United. Of course, three wins for Inverness will suffice for a play off place, but that's a monumental task given our opponents.

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We missed out on a second Premiership scalp in the Scottish Cup at the start of the weekend going down to a very late goal from Marcus Fraser that took the gloss of a superb team performance as we went toe to toe with St Mitten in a highly entertaining tussle. Nikolay Todorov scored his eleventh of the season but Kristian Dennis levelled immediately to keep the game on a knife edge right up until the 90th minute when Fraser tapped in the winner. Ach well, it was a fun distraction while it lasted but the main course will be served when Dundee visit.

Toddy: 6th goal in last five games

Whilst we were on Cup duty, Dunfermline leapfrogged us into fourth place with a 3-1 win over Queen of the South. They are now in prime position for the play offs but it is still in our own hands at the moment, although looking more likely that we will need to win all of our remaining games to do this.

That leaves the table looking like this ahead of Tuesday night's games: Inverness CT v Dundee, Morton v Hearts

SPFL Championship League Table

		Pld	W	D	L	F	A	+/-	Pts
1.	Hearts	24	15	5	4	56	24	32	50
2.	Raith Rovers	25	12	7	6	44	30	14	43
3.	Dundee	24	10	8	6	44	38	6	38
4.	Dunfermline	25	9	9	7	34	30	4	36
5.	Inverness CT	24	8	10	6	33	25	8	34
6.	Queen of the South	25	9	4	12	38	49	-11	31
7.	Arbroath	25	7	8	10	25	30	-5	29
8.	Ayr United	25	6	9	10	29	35	-6	27
9.	Morton	24	6	8	10	21	32	-11	26
10.	Alloa Athletic	25	4	6	15	28	59	-31	18

Last 10 Competitive Meetings v Dundee ------ Dundee last six League games -> DDWWWL

1 - 2 (A)

2 - 2 (H)

2 - 0 (A)

1 - 0 (H)

0 - 0 (A)

0 - 1 (A)

0 - 1 (H)

2 - 2 (A)

2 - 0 (A)

2 - 2 (H)

Of the two games played this season, the first ended in a 2-2 draw in the Highlands in front of a covid restricted crowd of 300 on 12th December.  Dee grabbed a late point after a pulsating game at the Caledonian Stadium ended all square. Liam Fontaine opened the scoring just before the interval reacting quickest to a rebound from the crossbar. Robbie Deas deservedly equalised with twenty minutes left and James Keatings put the hosts ahead three minutes later only for Jordan McGhee to peg us back again eight minutes from the end. The return fixture at Dens Park resulted in a 2-1 victory for the hosts. It was too little too late and Dundee manager Jake McPake looked to have tightened his shoogely peg as first half goals from Max Anderson and Jason Cummings put Dundee in at the break two up. Inverness were out of sorts in a poor first forty-five. Nikolay Todorov pulled a goal back with fifteen minutes left heading home a Cammy Harper cross. Inverness mounted a mini-comeback but fell just short as Dundee held on for all three points. 

We have a decent record in the Highlands against Dundee, the only loss being a Scottish Cup replay in 2018 after a 2-2 draw at Dens Park. However, this is a different beast now and it's points that make prizes. With Dunfermline gathering points, it's still all in the balance.

Venue (All competitions)

Pld

Won

Drn

Lst

For

Agst

+ / -

Home	15	7	7	1	26	14	+12
Away	19	6	8	5	25	23	+2
Neutral	2	0	0	2	2	4	-2
Total	36	13	15	8	53	41	+12

***Latest Team News***

James Keatings and birthday boy Wallace Duffy missed the visit to Paisley. I wonder if we have seen the last of the departing Keatings or is his injury prone career going to travel with him.

Under fire McPake seems to have managed to resurrect his managerial career and has turned a mediocre season into a possible promotion one. Dundee have probably the best squad of individuals and McPake is slowly getting the best out of them at the right time. Cummings, Sow, McMullan, Adams, are all quality players who can hurt you. McMullan in particular has been a thorn in our side over the last couple of seasons, and all can score goals. Defender Jordon Forstor has left the club.

Left back Jordan Marshall will miss out through injury and this game could also come too soon for Paul McGowan and Max Anderson. Cammy Kerr will likely continue to cover at left back.

 

 

 

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7 minutes ago, forresjags said:

Allardice looked like he won the ball, but Brad's was a typical lunge from him after a terrible touch.

2nd last home game of the season and the coverage is as bad as the first. Its beyond embarrassingly bad and certainly not worth the price of 2 season tickets. 

only word for our commentary is cringe

Fair play to take a point. Still in it, Dundee still have a couple of difficult games.

It's not over till it's over and we know our boys will give it their best shot.

So keep looking upwards lads and fly high (flamingos) on Saturday - nerves will play a part for all those in the play off mix, so anything could happen.

We are titanium.

C'mon Caley!

17 minutes ago, Satan said:

What a difference Charlie Adam made.

Turned the game on its head.

Yeah, second half Dundee were much improved.

Had we kept 11 men on the pitch we may well have lost, who knows.

Realistically, we had to win tonight so I think our play off chance has gone. That missed penalty against Alloa and the subsequent draw has comeback to haunt us big time. 

Referee undoubtedly influenced the game and, for me, the red cards were harsh, especially Allardice's but were just symptomatic of a very poor referee who was very inconsistent in his decisions which frustrates players hugely. 

Ref made a few poor decisions, but players getting a bit caught up in the heat of the moment made some decisions for the ref.

		Pld	W	D	L	F	A	+/-	Pts
1.	Hearts	25	15	6	4	56	24	32	51
2.	Raith Rovers	25	12	7	6	44	30	14	43
3.	Dundee	25	10	9	6	45	39	6	39
4.	Dunfermline	25	9	9	7	34	30	4	36
5.	Inverness CT	25	8	11	6	34	26	8	35

30 minutes ago, forresjags said:

2nd last home game of the season and the coverage is as bad as the first. Its beyond embarrassingly bad and certainly not worth the price of 2 season tickets. 

For those paying £10 it's a rip off and that's nothing to do with the football.  I have seen many others this season including Buckie Thistle and our coverage is the worst 

I really hope we are back watching games next season whatever league we are in.

No reflection on his performances at fullback,but the sooner we get Carson back into the centre of midfield the better. His  drive and aggression was sorely missed tonight and there is absolutely no way Charlie Adam would have had the time to dictate the play with Carson snapping around his ankles.

You can't accuse our lads of not showing commitment but sometimes they show a bit too much.  Dundee were very streetwise and drew a good few fouls, often making no attempt to actually play the ball.  That leads to frustration.  Commitment and frustration is a dangerous mix.  The quality of the stream doesn't really allow us a good enough view to make a sensible comment on the game's controversial moments, but there is no doubt that both Allardice and MacKay gave the referee a decision to make.  

Dundee had a couple of penalty appeals in the first half and I'd like to see those again.  In both cases it was Mullen, I think, so probably neither were pens.  I expect he got a slight tug at worst and went down far too easily.

It is disappointing that our fate is no longer in our own hands but we are far from out of it yet.  For instance, if Dunfermline were to lose their last 2 games, all we would need is 1 point from our last 2 games as we have the better goal difference.  All the pressure will be on Dunfermline.  Arbroath are on a good run of form and Alloa will be playing for pride with absolutely no pressure.

9 minutes ago, IBM said:

For those paying £10 it's a rip off and that's nothing to do with the football.  I have seen many others this season including Buckie Thistle and our coverage is the worst 

I really hope we are back watching games next season whatever league we are in.

The commentary was poor, but the actual video package/picture & camera quality added to the lack of replays made the commentary seem semi professional. 

To be fair the commentator is the only decent thing about the overall package.It's the guy sitting next to him offering his pearls of wisdom that's the problem.  

Like many others I find Andy’s stats and constant inane chatter irritating.  Iain Auld is so much better, speaking when necessary, staying silent when there’s nought to talk about.  I actually muted the stream and listened to Radio Scotland commentary which, at times, was irritating but not as much as ICT commentary.   If the same circumstances are to continue for any length of time, in regard to Covid, 

10 minutes ago, forresjags said:

To be fair the commentator is the only decent thing about the overall package.It's the guy sitting next to him offering his pearls of wisdom that's the problem.  

then ICT must make improvements especially in the commentary area.  

That was a sickener. Really bizarre for me watching that. I had a Zoom call at 7.30 so the first half hour was fine. Iain Auld did well as main commentator (although his mic was crap) but that other balloon kept butting in.

At 7.30 I muted it and put the game in a separate window, lucky my computer is 27". However I never saw the Allardice sending off so I wondered why Dundee were murdering us but I did see Adam was part of the reason.

Then I never realised the Dundee goal was disallowed, it said 0-1 for ages and I thought Dan's goal was an equaliser 😂

Thought Brad's was a straight red though, terrible challenge. Then I thought Dundee had won it, the free kick straight in to where we had a centre half only seconds previously to make it 1-2. Then I wondered what was wrong with the scoreboard, till my Zoom call ended and I unmuted the last few minutes. Relief that we weren't beaten by the Dees in a league game yet.

I think we're stuffed though, I predicted fifth place away back in the winter and I think it's a hill too far now. Only positive for Saturday is that Deas will get back to his best position and Cammy can come in.

Edit - forgot to mute myself and let out a roar when Dan scored. Never mind, only 19 people on the Zoom meeting.

2 hours ago, caley100 said:

Barrowman is a feckin *****

 

It's easy to mix them up.

If we fail to make the top four, there are a lot of games we should have done better in, but those that stand out for me are;

losing at Alloa after taking an early lead

failing to beat 10 man Morton when we were 2-1 ahead

losing 1-0 at home to Morton

losing 1-0 at home to Queen of the South

Even turning the losses into draws and the draw into a win would have given us 5 more points and we’d have been comfortably in the play offs.

Now we need to do better against Hearts and Ayr than Dunfermline go against Arbroath and Alloa. Not impossible but we are second favourites now.

But credit the players for getting the point tonight, and it could do easily have been three.

 

36 minutes ago, Robert said:

Now we need to do better against Hearts and Ayr than Dunfermline go against Arbroath and Alloa. Not impossible but we are second favourites now.

But credit the players for getting the point tonight, and it could do easily have been three.

 

We have to keep looking forward and we now need six points and a bit of luck 

Lovely first touch from Dan for the goal, bringing the high pass under control.

I like Andrew Barrowman's commentary. I have invited him to my Palace in Pyongyang for Sunday tea after the Ayr game. 

Do you want him back or will I 'keep' him here in an administrative role? 

🤔

How about a swap for Ri Chun-hee?  I'd listen to her doing the commentary.

"... 그리고 Carson은 핸드백 충돌에 연루되어 ..."

10 hours ago, Yngwie said:

Lovely first touch from Dan for the goal, bringing the high pass under control.

You mean this one. It's class 

Might need a stewards enquiry if all results go our way

SATURDAY 24TH APRIL all 3:00pm

Ayr United v Queen of the South

Dundee FC v Raith Rovers

Dunfermline v Arbroath

Heart of Midlothian v Inverness CT

Greenock Morton v Alloa Athletic

FRIDAY 30TH APRIL all 7:45pm

Alloa Athletic v Dunfermline

Arbroath v Greenock Morton

Inverness CT v Ayr United

Queen of the South v Dundee FC

Raith Rovers v Heart of Midlothian

14 hours ago, Satan said:

The commentary was poor, but the actual video package/picture & camera quality added to the lack of replays made the commentary seem semi professional. 

The club have had the ability to broadcast the game live with the cameras they use for highlights and with replays too since December (presumably with no added expense). However whoever it is that makes the decisions has decided that the Pixellot system, which the club is paying for, is the better option. Presumably they know best.

Looks like Allardice did get a straight red:

https://ictfc.com/match-report-ictfc-1-1-dundee

3 hours ago, hislopsoffsideagain said:

The club have had the ability to broadcast the game live with the cameras they use for highlights and with replays too since December (presumably with no added expense). However whoever it is that makes the decisions has decided that the Pixellot system, which the club is paying for, is the better option. Presumably they know best.

It beggars belief why they choose to do so. AndyCam has consistently shown he can provide a better product, one that was good enough when we were in the premiership and which many people have agreed is superior. Does someone have shares in Pixxelot, a relative working for them or did we sign a bad contract without any get out clause?