It has been a busy week at Dens Park with a few players leaving us and one coming in on loan but first we will jump right into the game on Saturday against Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
We have not got the best of record against Caley, in fact it is mediocre at best. Since they were formed in 1994, we have faced them twenty-one times in all competitions. We have won four, drawn nine and lost eight. Now you may think that is not too bad a record against our Highland friends but out of our four victories only one has come in the League while the other three happened in cup competitions. Our last victory against Caley was a 3-2 win in the Alba Cup Final while our last and only league victory was way back in 2005 when we defeated them 3-1.
Enough of the horror statistics, let us get talking about the game.
After the shock cup exit to Dunfermline on Tuesday night (the less said about that the better), I actually went into this game full of confidence. Inverness have not had the best of starts and had yet to register a win all season so far. When you add to the fact they had about five or six players out injured, I felt they were there for the taking. Unfortunately it was not to be that straight forward.
From the kick off it was clear they had one aim. To kick Dundee off the park. Though the referee handed out a few yellow cards to them in the first half, he missed a hell of a lot of fouls on us and if truth be told, he should have handed them out a hell of a lot more!
They have been handed a lot if praise for the attacking way they play, constantly finishing in a high league position and winning the Scottish Cup, all on a small budget. On Saturday, whatever praise I or any other Dundee fan had for them went straight out the window with their constant fouling.
Getting back to the actual game, it was not a classic. We had plenty of possession in the firstt half but we lacked any penetration to trouble the defence or keeper. This was evident in the statistics when it showed we had failed to hit the target at all in the first forty-five minutes. Moving into the second half and we went behind, losing a sloppy goal. After that, the frustration could be heard in between some of the Dundee fans as the team struggled to create any real opportunities but were handed a golden chance to pull one back with less than ten minutes remaining.
Greg Stewart swung the ball in and just as Carrerio was about to lay his head on it, the Caley defender blatantly handled. Much to our surprise he was only given a yellow card when I was positive it was a red. Stewart would then step up to take the penalty but it was poorly taken and saved easily by the keeper. To use a well known phrase up here, I thought it was ‘Games up the poley’ time and we would go on to lose the game. How glad I was to be wrong.
We were in injury time when we struck to save a point. A punt up the field from the defence bounced over a few defenders and straight into the path of Kane Hemmings who just could not miss from that position. A point was saved but it was the poorest I have seen the team play all season.
Now an update on how we fared in the transfer window. We offloaded three players in the past few days, Phil Roberts, Luka Tankulic and Simon Ferry. Meanwhile Riccardo Calder has arrived from Aston Villa and striker Rhys Healey from Cardiff City in loan deals.
Anyway, we are now off duty for the international break and I think it has come at the right time for us. Seven games over the month of August would take its toll on any team in the league so a quick recharge of the batteries for us will do the world of good.
Take a look at our article earlier this week which combines fixtures for Dundee and Palace for those fans interested in the continued interaction between both clubs: The Speroni Legacy – 2015/16.
