Monday 2nd May 2016.
The day that Dundee hammered the final nail into Dundee United’s coffin to relegate them at Dens Park with a 93rd minute winner that was scored by an eighteen year old local lad who is Dundee through and through.
It is a story that you honestly could not make up. But it happened, oh boy did it happen.
The game itself was not the spectacle that many fans had hoped it would become. It did have its moments here and there but there was this hint of nervousness around the whole ground from the players to the fans from start to finish.
United would drew first blood in the city derby despite it being largely dominated by Dundee. This resulted in a mini surge of tangerine as they ran down the stairs of the Shankly Stand to celebrate towards our South Enclosure. This would be the only celebration from them all night.
Dundee eventually equalised after Kosta Gadzhalov headed home a Gary Harkins corner. Kane Hemmings was lurking around the goal line and did enough to put the keeper and two defenders off to see the ball hit the back of the net. It was a soft goal to give away from United’s point of view but we were not complaining and neither were the players as they openly celebrated with raised hands in front of the small travelling support.
The next moment was a bittersweet one for the long suffering Dundee fans.
As the clock struck the 93rd minute, Greg Stewart played a free kick onto an unmarked Craig Wighton’s path on the edge of the box and even though his shot was not struck with much power, it was able to nutmeg not one but TWO United players on its way to nestling into the back of the net.
Three stands full of Dees erupted. Bedlam, pandemonium, unbridled joy. These are just a few of the words I can think of to describe that one moment. As Dundee fans rose to celebrate, the few away fans who bothered to attend, slumped back into their seats. They needed to win this game to postpone the inevitable but any hope of a last minute goal from their own team was extinguished.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXVHidky3bA
The full time whistle went and that was that. Dundee had relegated Dundee United at our home ground. While we started to celebrate a fine derby win, tears of despair started to stream down the faces of our day-glow colour wearing friends. The cameraman for BT Sport must have been having a field day as he zoomed in to adults crying their eyes out.
What a moment it must have been for young Craig Wighton. He may only eighteen but he has been around the first team since he was fifteen years old. His family are Dundee mad and he has been brought up the same way. We have viewed him as the future of the club for some time and now he has written his name down in the Dundee history books as the player to send United down. Not bad for someone that is only just legally allowed to buy a drink! This goal could very well be the making of him and from his display on Monday and the past few months, I expect him to figure massively next season in the first team.
I have got to give the United fans credit as a large majority of them stayed behind and applauded their players off while the rest seemed to look dazed or had their hands in their heads. A row of fully grown men even went down to the front to try and get a cuddle from John Rankin just like they did last week.
Only 1,800 decided to bother to turn up for this derby, possibly the lowest I have ever seen from them. Still, I applaud the ones that decided to face the music. There was even a nice moment before the game in the Clep Bar when former Dundee goalkeeper Rab Douglas gave my mate a cuddle as he was the only United fan there!
The lead up to this game was a bit surreal.
Only a few weeks ago United fans were praying that it would not come to this and results would go their way but alas the gods were smiling down on us for once. Dundee fans certainly took advantage.
There were Mixu Paatelainen masks sold in their thousands, mock tangerine coffins made and displayed in the surrounding pubs, flags made as well as t-shirts. Dundee fans were reveling in their neighbour’s plight and they sure as hell made our rivals know about it.
We had been given this great opportunity to get some payback and we fans were milking it as much as possible. United fans on the other had tried to downplay this derby by proclaiming that ‘they had already been relegated months ago’ and ‘they were not bothered with the score.’ You show me one person who would not be bothered about their team being relegated by their rivals and I will show you a liar.
Dundee fans have been the subject of many a joke and ridicule from our close neighbours and some of them have been relentless in their verbal assault of us. Now the shoe is on the other foot a lot of them cannot seem to hack it and keep regurgitating the same old chat about us not winning any silverware in forty years. You can tell they are hurting bad.
Even though we have been ahead of United in the league all season (not once did they go above us in the league), this game was officially the moment when the pendulum swung back across to the Dark Blue half of the city.
Long may that continue.
