Well, that was an absolute shambles.
Going into this match off the back of the 4-0 win over Hamilton, I actually thought we would get something from this match. There was hope that we could even get our first win up in Dingwall since 2011. As you may have got from my previous articles, whenever Dundee give you hope, they just as quickly snatch it away from you often in the curliest of manners.
We set out with basically the same team as the week before minus our captain Kevin Thomson who was unavailable (again) due to injury. He was replaced with Nick Ross who has found himself out the starting line up recently due to his performances being in my opinion, below par.
It all started so well when Kane Hemmings scored after six minutes to give us the lead and despite County levelling the score, another Hemmings goal sent us back into the lead in the second half. It finally looked like we could be on our way to a long overdue win up in the Highlands. What happened next was not the run of the mill series of unfortunate events but rather a series of horrendous defending and the team being run completely ragged.
Watching back on some of the defending in this game, it was criminal to say the least. I am actually fed up typing about how vulnerable we are at the back. Last week’s clean sheet now feels more like we only managed it because how bad Hamilton were rather than us being solid. The most annoying thing about this all is we seem to have it all sorted out up front. One or two signings for the defence and bringing in a hard as nails center midfielder and I still genuinely believe that this would turn the team around and see us advancing up the league. Until we do so though we will be in a battle to avoid the dreaded play off spot.
It was with some relief that we have been linked with a loan move for a defender. It was reported that we are interested in bringing West Ham United left back Stephen Hendrie to Dens Park. This is a player whose old stomping ground was at Hamilton and he played over a hundred games for them. Some of those were against Dundee so I have witnessed how good a player he is and I would have him in this team in a heartbeat! I cannot find out how much truth this rumour carries but at least we are being linked with a player that we know of and one that can add something to the team.
While we thought getting soundly beaten by County was bad, up next we have Celtic at Dens Park. Yes, Celtic. They may be going through a bad patch (by their standards) and look to be missing five first team regulars but this is still a Celtic side that have resources to put out a team strong enough to beat us.
Our history against with them is not pretty reading for the Dark Blues. The last win came back in May of 2001 when we beat them 2-0 at Parkhead but it is our home record which brings a shiver down the spine. Our last home victory was way back in 1988. That is twenty-two home games without a win. Could our luck be about to change? Going by the last performance, not a chance. Stranger things have happened though.
Three days after the Celtic game we welcome our closes rivals to Dens Park, Dundee United. They are rooted at the bottom of the table ten points adrift (at the time of writing this) of second bottom Kilmarnock and it is not looking good for them at all as they attempt to avoid relegation. They have improved performance wise since old favourite Mixu Paatelainen took over the reins but they are still struggling to pickup the main thing you need in football – points!
I admit that I am not looking forward to this game at all. We have the players to win this match hands down but I am not entirely sure which Dundee team will turn out. We gifted them the lead in the last derby game and despite the late comeback to salvage a point, it was frustrating that we could not beat the worst United team in many a year.
It is a very big match for both teams. Dundee win and we keep ourselves around mid-table. Lose this one and we could very well be joining this seasons whipping boys down near the bottom.
