Firstly, may I wish everyone a Happy New Year and I hope you all had a fantastic time. Dundee fans certainly did!
With the Celtic game succumbing to the elements of the weather a few days before the end of the year, it gave Dundee players a few extra days to shake off some niggling injuries that had been bothering them in the lead up to the Dundee Derby.
In the run up to the game, I will admit that I was a tad nervous. United may be at the bottom of the league and odds on to be relegated but our defeat to Ross County emptied most of the confidence that I had taken from the Hamilton game. I also took into effect that our rivals have had the upper hand in these games the past few years and have all the luck when it comes to decisions.
The start of the match was not exactly pleasant viewing for the Dark Blue persuasion. James McPake was stretchered off early on after dislocating his knee cap after a brilliant tackle on John Rankin. It was a massive blow to lose him so early on. The reaction from both sets of players immediately highlighted it was a bad one and this was acknowledged when McPake was giving oxygen from the paramedics while they tended to him. Despite the severe nature of the situation, this did not stop some sections of the away support frothing at the mouth while chanting ‘off, off, off’.
Ultimately the referee would only give a yellow card and a free kick even though I still think that was the wrong decision but the resulting free kick gave United the lead. There is no doubting it was an absolute beauty from their player and despite Scott Bain’s best efforts, when the ball is placed right into the top corner like Spittal did, there is no stopping it.
The goal gave them confidence and they pushed forward hoping to double their lead which they nearly did on a few occasions. Thankfully, Bain was in good form and made a few good stops and when he could not get to the ball, Kevin Holt was there to clear off the line.
The Dee came more into the game in the hope of punishing United for not adding to their lead and they did so in hilarious fashion. Now to someone outside the city of Dundee, it may have only looked like a mistake from Dundee United’s new goalkeeper to gift us an equaliser but to us Dundee fans, you could not make it up. You see for the best part of two months, our rivals have been chasing Eiji Kawashima from Japan but have had to deal with red tape, language tests and the like to enter the country. In the meantime, they have built up this goalkeeper as a sort of saviour who will win them points. What he did do was punch the ball straight at Hemmings who only had to blast the ball into an empty net as he desperately tried to scramble back to make amends. From here on in, United were rattled and I knew there would only be one outcome.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ID5rxPgvzWg
The second half was more comfortable for the Dee. Our build up play was slow at times but this did not suit United who like to play at a high tempo. I felt we would take the lead and we did courtesy of a wicked deflection off the backside of the United captain. We did have a chance to tie up the win, McGowan burst through into the box but their keeper made amends for his howler to tip it round the post.
Our opponents would eventually end the match with ten men when former West Ham United player Guy Demel was deservedly sent off for a second bookable offence. I was quite surprised he had not received his marching orders sooner or hauled off by United boss Mixu Paatelainen at half time after his antics in the first period.
When the final whistle sounded, the celebrations began all around the ground. It was a morale boosting victory after such a heavy defeat and one which was more significant since we were missing four first team players from the starting line up. It was also pleasing to make it back to back derby wins at Dens Park.
A few of you may remember our young player Cammy Kerr who scored in Julian Speroni’s testimonial. He was making his first Premiership start for Dundee and he came into his own in the second half. Cammy is a Dundee fan through and through so this must have seemed like a dream to be given the chance to shine against our wee neighbours. He grew in confidence as the game went on and it is safe to say we have quite a player on our hands.
So, the Dee started the New Year with a win over their struggling rivals. You cannot ask any more than that. The Dundee fans have rightly been taunting the wee team after this win but our friends down the road have not taken it too well. The rattle has well and truly been thrown out the pram from this lot which has only enticed Dundee fans to wind them up more. Even former X-Factor contestant Wagner is getting in on the act of mocking this lot on social media.
Next week we vacate league duty to compete in the Scottish Cup against an in form Falkirk side who are quietly making a title challenge of their own in the Championship. I have always been impressed with Falkirk from their stadium right through to their youth academy which seems to bring player after player through. A huge bulk of them have gone down to play in England for a good transfer fee but they always seem to have a ready made replacement for them.
This will be a very hard match I have no doubt about that but hopefully we can do better in this competition than we did in the League Cup.
Unfortunately there will not be an article from me next week as I will be sunning myself in Mexico and preparing to get married to my lovely Dundee United supporting fiancée [Ed – poor excuse!]. I will be in London for the Saturday night so I may have to use this opportunity for a quick photo-shoot outside Selhurst Park!
Hopefully, I will be toasting a cup double for the Dee and the Eagles!
The team at TEB would like to wish Daniel and his soon to be bride Jodie all the best as they jet off to South America for their big day.
Keep in touch with both Dundee and Palace results and fixtures in our article The Speroni Legacy.
