Despite coming into this match with a fine 2-1 victory over St Johnstone the week before, it was not to be Dundee’s day when they visited in-form Aberdeen at Pittodrie.
Even though the Dons have been riding high the past few seasons, Dundee have always been a thorn in their side. Last season we put them out of the Scottish Cup, ending their run of seven clean sheets by putting three goals past them and also drawing with them at Dens Park near the end of the season when a win for them would of put them joint top of the league with Celtic. We also have had a great record up North only suffering two defeats in seventeen meetings.
Alas, it was not to be for the mighty Dee as they fell to a 2-0 defeat. Watching the game back on DeeTV, you can say it was the poorest performance from the team all season. We failed to get a single shot on the Aberdeen goal in the first half and Aberdeen totally dominated. If they were able to make the penetration in the Dee defence, they would have likely gone in at the break well ahead instead of drawing goalless.
The past few weeks I have written about Dundee dominating first half of our games then falling away in the second period but it looked like (if only for a little while) that we would be doing it the other way round and showing up after the break.
Unfortunately, it seemed that we were finding our feet the whole game and having few chances to take the lead. Aberdeen took an expected lead and doubled it when Rooney scored his second from the penalty spot in the final minute after Gary Harkins fouled him in the box which was a second bookable offence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4xm18_gT2o
It was a bad day at the office for the team and after some of the performances we have produced since the start of the season it was pretty disappointing to see us play that way. At the end of the day though, we will have games like this as it is part and parcel of supporting a football team. Aberdeen are, in my opinion, the second best club in Scotland who will push Celtic harder than last year so there is no shame in losing. It would of been easier to take if they had put in a much better display.
Next up we are away in the League Cup to Dunfermline over in Fife. They have had their share of financial troubles like ourselves and have struggled to get back into the Championship the past few seasons. They have the potential to pull in big crowds and I think it will only be a matter of time before they are back challenging to make it into the Premiership.
Dundee boss Paul Hartley has signalled his intent to enjoy cup success with Dundee and will be playing his strongest squad in both competitions. We have been starved of winning a cup for 42 years now and for the past ten, a decent cup run. The foundations are there for us to make it to the latter stages of these tournaments so hopefully the players and Hartley can deliver.
By the time this is published (the game is on Tuesday night) we will already know the score of the Dunfermline game so fingers crossed it is a good one for the Dee.
MON THE DEE!
