Dundee Crunch game

[RiG]

Dundee probably should have won that. They started both halves so much quicker than we did and it felt like they had plenty of decent chances before we even got over the half way line. Some decent saves from Ridgers and fluffed efforts from the likes of Jakubiak kept things level. 

I felt we defended the opener poorly at the time. Opposition players allowed to much time and space and our defenders not picking up their men properly. We just seemed very slack for large parts of the game. Whilst it was a tidy finish I don't think we covered ourselves in glory trying to keep them out.

Nice hold up play from MacKay to keep the ball under pressure from Sweeney and a lovely run and cross to find Samuels at the back post for the equaliser. Probably our one really good bit of attacking play the entire game before we went back to hoofball forward for MacKay and Samuels to try and do something with.

A really quite bizarre performance from us. After seeing Shaw tear opponents apart on the flanks in recent weeks Dodds seems to be persisting with making him into a 10 where he hasn't looked at all as effective. Really odd that he has done this for the 3rd game in a row. The defending was chaotic at times and we really struggled with the intensity of the Dundee press at times. Any time Jakubiak or Robinson went up for a high ball Cameron was bursting forward to try and collect any knock down. Compare this to Mckay who spent an hour almost completely isolated trying to win headers against two gargantuan defenders. It was a frustrating watch.

Carson was probably our best player. Defended reasonably well for the most part and slotted into midfield very well once Dodds shuffled the pack. Impressed with Hannant in the opening stages of the game for Dundee where he was giving Carson a hard time but he (Carson) eventually got to grips with him. Also thought Cameron did well buzzing all over the pitch defending and attacking. Was happy when he went off.

Looks like our playoff spot is going to come down to a last day shoot out against Ayr United.

[STFU]

I wasn't that surprised by yesterday's performance.  Typical from a team where most of them will be away at the end of the season, so the league is secondary to risking their place in next week's Scottish Cup Semi Final.

[Robert]

Sorry, I missed yesterday’s game but once again we came from behind and got a result, albeit a draw rather than a win.

That doesn’t strike me as a team and squad that are only focussed on the cup.

19 points from 21 at a key time of the season. Since the costly Hamilton double debacle we have only lost once.

As Satan said yesterday, it is all down to bottle now. I’m confident our guys have it.

Edited April 23, 2023 by Robert

[+DoofersDad]

Young Dan MacKay has come in for a bit of stick this year and it is disappointing that he hasn't fulfilled his early promise.  But it was great work from him to drive into the Dundee defence and get the ball across to Austin Samuels.  Hopefully this will give him a bit of confidence and allow him to make a positive contribution.  Great to see Austin Samuels back in the goals too.  The ball bounced very awkwardly for him and he did really well to control it and quickly poke it past the keeper.  Absolutely agree with RiG about Shaw being played in a number 10 role.  He is so much more effective playing wide.  Don't understand the logic of this.  Missed Sean Welsh and hope he is not going to be missing for the SF.  

[STFU]

2 hours ago, Robert said:

Sorry, I missed yesterday’s game but once again we came from behind and got a result, albeit a draw rather than a win.

That doesn’t strike me as a team and squad that are only focussed on the cup.

As you say, you weren't at the game.  You can't judge an entire performance on a single lucky break.

1 hour ago, DoofersDad said:

Young Dan MacKay has come in for a bit of stick this year and it is disappointing that he hasn't fulfilled his early promise.  But it was great work from him to drive into the Dundee defence and get the ball across to Austin Samuels.  Hopefully this will give him a bit of confidence and allow him to make a positive contribution.  Great to see Austin Samuels back in the goals too.  The ball bounced very awkwardly for him and he did really well to control it and quickly poke it past the keeper.  Absolutely agree with RiG about Shaw being played in a number 10 role.  He is so much more effective playing wide.  Don't understand the logic of this.  Missed Sean Welsh and hope he is not going to be missing for the SF.  

You may want to watch the highlights to refresh your memory on the goal, without the blue and red tinted specs!

Mackay was tenacious in bundling his way into the box, but his 'cross' hit two other players before luckily dropping into the path of Samuels to bundle it home.  It was far from a great goal, other than in importance to our play off chances!

We stole a point from a game which we should have got nothing, thankfully!

[Robert]

9 hours ago, STFU said:

As you say, you weren't at the game.

First home game I’ve missed all season in all competitions.

I stick by the view I expressed above.

Mackay put the ball into a dangerous area, Dundee didn’t deal with it and we scored. Dundee also got lucky with their goal as we couldn’t deal with the ball in our box and their player capitalised.

Two big games ahead that make or break our season.

Edited April 24, 2023 by Robert

[ICTPaisley]

12 hours ago, STFU said:

As you say, you weren't at the game.  You can't judge an entire performance on a single lucky break.

You may want to watch the highlights to refresh your memory on the goal, without the blue and red tinted specs!

Mackay was tenacious in bundling his way into the box, but his 'cross' hit two other players before luckily dropping into the path of Samuels to bundle it home.  It was far from a great goal, other than in importance to our play off chances!

We stole a point from a game which we should have got nothing, thankfully!

Absolutely seething Dodds has a record of 1 defeat in 11

Edited April 24, 2023 by ICTPAISLEY

[Jaggernaut]

I, like some of the posters on here, don't know why Dodds keeps playing Shaw as a  number 10, he is far more effective on the wing and cutting in. I thought Saturdays game was made for Doran to play just behind Billy Mckay, they link well together, and it would cut out the constant Hoofball. It was probably Billy's quietest game for some time, as he hardly ever got any balls played to his feet.

With our semi final now in the forefront of our minds, we need to play to our strengths, by playing our passing game, which usually brings some joy up front, instead of hitting constant long high balls to our non existent tall target man. 

[Robert]

8 hours ago, ICTPAISLEY said:

Absolutely seething Dodds has a record of 1 defeat in 11

He will surely be Manager of the Month for April given our league record this month. 5 wins and a draw in our 6 games. 

[ICTPaisley]

58 minutes ago, Robert said:

He will surely be Manager of the Month for April given our league record this month. 5 wins and a draw in our 6 games. 

Let’s hope he doesn’t get awarded that until after the Ayr game then!!

[IBM]

Well done David Carson