Dundee Tenth But Close To Snatching Point

I was expecting the worst when we made the trip to Glasgow to face Celtic at the weekend.

The Bhoys have yet to be defeated in the league all term and are in the midst of an incredible ten game winning streak. Our results have improved from what they were in September and October but with performances being mixed, I genuinely had the fear at what Dundee team would show up and by how much we would be pummelled.

A 2-1 defeat is certainly not something to be ashamed of considering our current plight. The expected hammering and further depletion of our goal difference failed to materialize. In the last half hour of the game, we pushed them, grabbed a goal back and were then very unlucky not to snatch a point at the end when Faissal El Bakhtaoui’s shot went blazing over the bar instead of nestling into the back of the net when he was through on goal.

Despite having the vast majority of the possession and chances, I felt that the defence dealt with more or less the bulk of the crosses that were put into the box very well. They did carve open up the defence a good few times but we always did well to recover.

Their opening goal came from a very dubious given free kick which was expertly put away by former Dee Leigh Griffiths. It was never a free kick in my opinion and a very poor decision from the referee. Their second goal also could have been dealt with better. As the ball was cleared from the penalty box, Nir Bitton struck the ball into Scott Bain’s bottom left hand corner. What was annoying, the amount of Dundee players that stood stationary, failing to close down the loose ball before the Celtic player came into contact with it.

It was great to see Mark O’Hara back on the field after a lengthy injury and he made an instant impact by assisting Marcus Haber with a beautiful lobbed pass. Haber may have had another assist from the Celtic defender it deflected off but it was still a well worked goal from Dundee.

We did see chances at either side of Haber’s strike come desperately close for the Dee. Haber’s header hit the post before it rebounded to Craig Wighton who could not find the proper connection to put it in. There was also El Bakhtaoui’s miss which I touched on above. It was a glorious chance missed and one that the striker will not be wanting to watch anytime soon.

Up next are three massive games for us. Hearts are the visitors to Dens for this Friday’s game. They will have new gaffer Ian Cathro in the dugout and will be looking for his first win as manager for the Jam Tarts.

Hearts have only lost once in their last eight games but Dundee are more than capable of winning this match. An early goal for the Dark Blues could very well see their confidence smashing just like it did at the weekend against bottom side Partick Thistle who drew with them at Tynecastle. This saw boos and jeers rain down on the home side from their support after Thistle equalised. Hopefully we will be able to provoke that type of reaction from the Hearts fans while giving our own something to celebrate.

In other Dundee news this week, the club have withdrawn their support for the Regional Performance Centre for Sport which was proposed to be built at Caird Park. The club would have had their own training facilities if this £21million project was given the go ahead but it would seem that the club would rather look at other options. There have been a few objections to this project in the past and only recently, it was pulled from the planned hearing with the Council at the last minute due to a legal dispute lodged.

With our owners purchasing a piece of land at the other side of the city in Camperdown Park, many people cited it as a place to build a new stadium. In truth, I don’t think the area is large enough for this and it may be more suited as the location to set up our own training base, that’s if it ever comes to fruition.

These last few weeks in December are massive for the club. We need points, plain and simple. I don’t care if they come via poor performances, last minute goals or own goals off the opposition defenders arse, I just want to see us put points on the board!

MON THE DEE!