Ross County Build-up

Ludovic Roy missed training yesterday but only because it was indoors. Derek Lyle has a stiff neck but should be okay for Saturday's game.Meanwhile Alex Rae will be in England tomorrow night to watch transfer targets for the January window.
Dundee hope to announce good news in two weeks time about the future of the club, in the first time in a decade we are set to break even this season. The debt will likely be around £8 million, they say it won't affect football matters.
Also Alex Rae says that midfielder Jon Boggan will get his chance in the next few weeks, it's about time he was given a chance.

Brian McGinty will likely miss the the game, but Danny Griffin and Ludovic Roy should be fit.

Brian McGinty and Ross Harris have been added to the squad for this weekend's game, only Andy McLaren will miss out.

Dundee 1 Airdrie 0, Dens Park, 25/Nov/06

Dundee won 1-0 on Saturday, thanks to a 37th minutes debut goal from Gary Smith, he headed home after a Gavin Swankie corner which was headed on by Bobby Mann.In what was a poor first half we could have scored just after when Derek Lyle put one over the ball from 3 yards out. Into the second half we played quite well but we could not add with Robert Campbell missing a sitter from 6 yards. Airdrie did have chances as well and hit the bar twice. But we must be happy with the result and it keeps us close to the top.

Eagles Stop Rot

Cupar Eagles entertained Kemback with a full strength team welcoming back Youth Academy starlet Gary Pryde after missing last week through work commitments. After a disappointing league campaign of six defeats in seven matches morale was low but Manager Marshall gave a inspired motovational speech prior to kick-off. Eagles came out of the blocks quickest and only a desperate clearance from the Kemback defence prevented McLuckie putting the Eagles one up. Eagles were pushing the ball about well and it was no surprise when Halley broke clear after a ball over the top from Beauchope and slotted the ball home for the opening goal. Kemback were on the back foot for much of the half but McGregor had to be alert to push a fine effort over for a corner. Eagles then went two up after a slick passing manoeuvre featuring Marshall and Pryde which sent Halley away where he brushed of a defender before coolly despatching the ball past the stranded Kemback keeper. Kemback were rattled but rallied to score just before half-time despite the heroic efforts from Mullen and Syme in defence.
Marshall came close with a twenty yard pile-driver which just flew over the bar as the Eagles closed in for victory. Martin was next and after a Cruyff like turn his effort was scrambled away for a corner. With time running out Kemback pushed forward but with Mullen and Syme in commanding form at the back chances were restricted and with a minute to go when they were beaten McGregor produced a wonder save diving full length to prevent a Kemback equaliser.
Full time: Cuapar Eagles 2 Kemback 1
Eagles line-up:
1. Roy McGregor
2. John Mullen
3. Ally Syme
4. Andrew Beauchope
5. Craig Halley
6. Gary Pryde
Subs:
7. Tommy Marshall
8. Walter Martin
9. Colin Clive
10. Greg McLuckie

Airdrie Build Up

Gary McKenzie played for 1 hour for the reserves on Monday night, it will be two weeks before Gary can get his match fitness up.Brian McGinty and Ross Harris will both miss tomorrow's game due to injuries, Gary Smith is poised to start his first game he came on as a sub last week at Dumfries.
Legend 1970's striker Billy Pirie will make the draw at half-time as part of ' the Ure Dundee ' there is prizes for people who donated to the fund. Which now stands at £152,000.
Bobby Mann says we have to be positive for tomorrow's game and close the gap at the top of the league which stands at 10 points.

Queen of the South 2 Dundee 0, League, 18/Nov/06

Left Cupar on the 09:52 Virgin train to Carlisle getting there at 12:10, got the connection for Dumfries at 12:18 arriving at 12:55. So everything so far is on time at a cost of £36.60 I would hope so. Made my way to The Spread Eagle pub for a few prematch pints, there is a few Dundee fans in and times goes quickly. I meet up with Neil and Russell and we head for the game.
Dundee start brightly in the first 10 minutes, but we can't find that cutting edge and we look to be control when we give away a soft penalty, Greg Strong letting Weir get past him and Ludovic Roy brought him down, John O'Neil scored with ease, into the second half and after just 3 minutes Alex Rae made a mess of a pass and Weir ran onto it and played in O'Neil to cooly beat Roy to get his second goal.
After that Gary Smith came on in place of Strong, and later on Mclaren and deasley both came on, but we can't play our way back into it. The final whistle sounds and it's another 3 points lost on the road. My man of the match goes to Scott Robertson who put in a lot of effort today.
We head back to The Spread Eagle pub to get final scores ect, with St.Johnstone getting beat it makes the result even worse, we then head off to have a pint in The Hole in Wall and The Globe pubs. We get the 18:30 train back to Glasgow Central arriving at 20:27, then I get the 21:00 train to Edinburgh then finally the 22:38 train back to Cupar at 23:35.
A long day with all the travelling I just hope we can start getting some results to reward the loyal dundee away fans.

Masters teach Eagles lesson

Cupar Eagles lined up for the game against the Drunken Masters without Youth Academy starlet Gary Pryce but Halley rose from his sick bed after a bout of food poisoning to make the starting six.
Eagles started brightly and only a succession of fine saves from the opposion keeper prevented an early Eagles counter. After this Masters seemed to settle better in the wind swept conditions and pushed the ball about to greater effect. The opening goal arrived midway through the first half for the Masters when McGregor was beaten from close range and a second and third was lost before half time.
Eagles regrouped for the second half and Martin came close with a rasping twenty yard effort. Beauchope then spurned a great opportunity when played in by Marshall. Masters scored a fourth late on as the Eagles legs tired and a fifth was conceded right at the death as the Eagles heads were now firmly down.
Final Score: Cupar Eagles 0 Drunken Masters 5
Cupar Eagles line-up:
1. Roy McGregor
2. John Mullen
3. Ally Syme
4. Craig Halley
5. Greg McLuckie
6. Andy Beauchope
Subs:
7. Tommy Marshall
8. Walter Martin
9. Colin Clive

The View,The View on Fire!

Article in The Courier today about the Dundee Band and a cry for help from their bass player :UNITED Tannoy now belts out the young Dundonian band’s latest single Superstar Tradesman instead of usual song Love Is In The Air. Drummer Steve Morrison, known to the band’s fans as Crazy Mo, is a lifelong United supporter and is thrilled they have decided to use the song.However, bass player Kieran Webster, who actually wrote the track, is now living in fear of his grandmother Mary Clarke. He groaned, “I am actually a Dundee fan so I’m dreading what some of my mates are going to make of this. They’ll probably want to kill me. If they don’t do it my gran will because she is a diehard Dundee supporter.“Now I will have to get in touch with someone at Dens to see if they will play one of our other songs!”Quite funny, is that not just typical for a Dee, your a Dee fan and write a top 10 hit and it ends up becoming Utds main song and now your Granny is going to beat you up :) I suppose thats what you get for letting Arabs into your band.Can anyone at Dens help this young talented Dee out. I belive the Dens DJ has played their songs a few times pre match.

Dundee Sign Gary Smith

Chief Executive Dave Mackinnon confirmed this afternoon that experienced former Aberdeen and Hibs defender Gary Smith will arrive at Dens on a loan deal until January. Gary is currently with Cowdenbeath who he joined after leaving Hibs at the end of last season.
He will certainly help our squad and he can play right across the back four, he might make his debut at Queen of the South this Saturday.

Eagles drained after tea-bags win

Eagles lined up in a confident mood after intensive training sessions seemed to eradicate fundamental errors on the pitch. However this was not be the case as tea-bags raced into a two goal lead inside the first five minutes. Stunned by this disastrous start Eagles slowly began to settle and chances were made with Halley going close with a blistering strike and Pryde fully testing the keeper with a shot from just outside the box. Failure to take these chances was crucial as the Eagles lost there way and conceded another two goals before half-time.
In the second-half Eagles made a few changes where Marshall and Martin were introduced to the action. However a fifth goal was lost before Martin pulled a goal back when a Halley strike was spilled by the keeper to slot home. With the Eagles now chasing the game holes appeared in defence where another two goals were shipped before full time.
Final Score: Cupar Eagles 1 Tetley Tea-Bags 7
Cupar Eagles line-up:
1. Roy McGregor
2. Ally Syme
3. John Mullen
4. Greg McLucky
5. Gary Pryde
6. Craig Halley
Subs:
7. Tommy Marshall
8. Walter Martin
9. Colin Clive

Livingston 2 Dundee 3, 11/Nov/06

Dundee beat Livi 3-2 in what was our first ever win at Almondale, Gavin Swankie scored in 16 minutes to give us the lead with a low shot.That was the half-time score Livingston got level in 48 minutes when Ross Harris scored a own goal, but he made up for his mistake in 63 minutes setting up Derek Lyle put us ahead.Gavin Swankie scored to make it 3-1 with a volley, Livi did score in injury time when Liam Fox netted.
It was a debut for young Craig Forsyth who filled in for paul Dixon and done well for someone so young, his dad Stewart played for Dundee in the 1980's.

Dundee 1 Gretna 3, 04/Nov/06

Dundee lost 3-1 to Gretna on Saturday, we took the lead when Brian McGinty scored his first goal for the club with a good finish to a flowing move. Then Gretna got a soft looking penalty the refs are not giving us much this season so far! Into the second half and we start to gain the upper hand, but Andy McLaren got himself sent off getting booked twice for dissent. He should know better and Gretna scored two late goals to win the game. Kevin McDonald got a broken nose and Paul Dixon took a hard tackle but hopefully both will be fit for Saturday's game at Livingston.

Memories From Perugia (Dundee Fan's)

From Chico 62: Just a wee gem from the Perugia trip which still makes me smile. I travelled with my father, amongst many others (from the Perth 62 Club), and had a great time, despite the score.The day after the match we travelled back to Rome and thought we should do the tourist sights before flying back. So, we got the bus trip around the sights and stopped off at the Colloseum where we were approached by some guy trying to flog us guided tours which we were not interested in. His efforts to engage us in conversation included him spotting the Dundee shirts and scarves and saying, "Ah, you football fans ?" To which we replied, "Aye, Dundee." His response was, "Ah, Dundee United - good team." Now, after watching our beloved Dark Blues get beat (the dream was over), and being very tired having been up drinking till late, this was not something we were too keen to continue. So, my father's response ? "No, DUNDEE, now F*** OFF !"Absolutely brilliant ! Even into his 70s, you can't take the Dee out of a True Dee !

From Stoo: My trip to Italy was a bit of a nightmare. I lived in Dublin at the time and so travelled alone to Italy, flying via Stansted to Pisa (I wasn't aware Ryanair flew to Ancona, which is closer) then getting the train to Perugia and planning on meeting up with my cousin the next day. I will always remember the sheer number of Dees in Stansted airport, including a thought of how unwise some people were to wear a t-shirt that said "peh eating, arab hating, dee til eh deh" on the back.I got to Pisa and with my pidgin italian managed to get directions to the Tower, then I made my way by bus to the train station and got shouted at by my angry bus driver. After getting on the wrong train, thanks to communication problems with the advisor on the platform, I changed in Firenze and continued on to Perugia, being fined on the train for not stamping my ticket in those little orange box thingies. After queuing ages for a taxi at the station I got fleeced by the taxi driver before arriving at my hotel, where we received a more-than-friendly welcome, only to realise that I'd forgotten to buy an adaptor so I could recharge my phone, and it was almost completely dead. I had something to eat in the hotel and went to bed, thankful for getting to my hotel after the journey from hell.The day of the game was only marginally better. As my phone was dead I managed to leave a message for my cousin to this effect and that I was likely to be incommunicado. Once in town I followed the singing to the city square, sorry, piazza, where I saw a few familiar faces. We got our bus tickets for the trip out to the game and I bumped into my cousin before enjoying a few pre-match pints with him and his friends before taking a rather entertaining journey out to the stadium. Once there I was glad I brought my fleece, although I made the mistake of lending it to my cousin who hogged it for the entire match leaving me to freeze with only a wafer thin saltire to wrap around myself. We were subsequently locked in the stadium for a bit before being allowed to board our buses back to the city centre, only to find that all public transport ceased at 8.30PM and I was stranded (my hotel was on the outskirts of the city). So, I started walking, and after what seemed like an eternity later hung around outside a hotel for a while before flagging down one of the 30 or so (reportedly) taxis within Perugia. That taxi driver must've thought it was his birthday as he got a big fat tip because I was so relieved to get home.The next day I travelled to Rome to spend 2 nights there, and had another nightmare journey, before enjoying a full day whizzing around the place and seeing all the sights of Rome using the excellent Metro system. I flew back to Dublin the next day and was never so glad to get back there.Saying that, I wouldn't have changed it for the world, as I got to see my beloved team play on foreign soil in the UEFA Cup against a Serie A side. Happy days. I remember little about the game other than the fact that we got beat 1-0 (3-1 on agg) and it wasn't much of a spectacle. I've still got my intact spare ticket for the game as I ended up with two. It might be worth soi was in Perugia to see the Dees and had a brilliant time. we made it into a holiday actually, think we were there for about a week. stayed in a cottage about an hour outside of Perugia, think it was called Matingnania or something. the town nearby was weird hardly anything there and was alwyas pretty quiet.we went up to Perugia most days to checl things out. i met Fabritzio Ravenelli and Gio De Stefano, got my photo takin with Ravenelli still got it on my comuter and show it to anyone who comes round. day before the game we went to the stadium and because i had Dundee top on two reporters from the local press came and spoke to us. asked us prediction for the score and who our favourite players was etc( at the time i believe i had N.Novo on the back of my top) next day we bought the paper (called il GIORNALE dell' UMBRIA) and there we were on page 40 wth the headline La vacabza-ultra dei Campbell which i think means something like the ultimate vacation for the Campbells. was quite a big article and had us telling them all about our holiday, the teams and how Italians are mental drivers.still think we could have beaten Perugia that night, if we had taken our chances who knows. was absolutly freezing that night so a goal would have been good so we could have jumped around a bit to ehat up.doesn't feel like 3 years ago and its sad to see how much times have changed for the dees, hopefully one day we can get back to the standard of football that got us into the Uefa Cup.mething some day.

From Hill4life:i was in Perugia to see the Dees and had a brilliant time. we made it into a holiday actually, think we were there for about a week. stayed in a cottage about an hour outside of Perugia, think it was called Matingnania or something. the town nearby was weird hardly anything there and was alwyas pretty quiet.we went up to Perugia most days to checl things out. i met Fabritzio Ravenelli and Gio De Stefano, got my photo takin with Ravenelli still got it on my comuter and show it to anyone who comes round. day before the game we went to the stadium and because i had Dundee top on two reporters from the local press came and spoke to us. asked us prediction for the score and who our favourite players was etc( at the time i believe i had N.Novo on the back of my top) next day we bought the paper (called il GIORNALE dell' UMBRIA) and there we were on page 40 wth the headline La vacabza-ultra dei Campbell which i think means something like the ultimate vacation for the Campbells. was quite a big article and had us telling them all about our holiday, the teams and how Italians are mental drivers.still think we could have beaten Perugia that night, if we had taken our chances who knows. was absolutly freezing that night so a goal would have been good so we could have jumped around a bit to ehat up.doesn't feel like 3 years ago and its sad to see how much times have changed for the dees, hopefully one day we can get back to the standard of football that got us into the Uefa Cup.

FromTayzurri:My memories,back early from Majorca family holiday to Prestwick,Stansted cold floors, gun totting copsflight to PisaLeaning Tower of Pisa,Dodgy Mini bus to Perugia arranged by Helen ??? Irish womanHotelPizza, Peroni, ****ing in closeys, pipersMarching, singing on buses,queing, baltic crap terracing, singing our hearts out too early,giant aussie keeper & sara fighting,riot police, waiting for burning terracing at home end to go outRun back to station, hotel, beer, bus to PisaLeaning Tower of Pisa (again)Stansted,PrestwickHome knackered after 48 hours with about 4 hours sleep - brilliant.Great memories - would love to it again.RegardsTayzurri

From tilly_dee:Woman with child in buggy was on my bus, god knows how she managed it.My trip with my father & son started at Prestwick, flying to Rome. Car was hired from there, drove to Perugia (nightmare !!! Dad thought he would have to change his underpants half way there, as we converged with a huge lorry at one of the tolls) Arrived in Perugia, on the day of the game with no hotel booked, but luckily first one we tried managed to accomodate us.Walked up to town, met the Dundee hordes sang with Gio outside the teams hotel. Went to game on those buses, remember being frozen even with fleece. Back to hotel to drown sorrows, realised there were many more supporters booked in, drank the bar dry.Back to Rome follwing morning, done the sigtseeing bit with the tour on the bus and back to Stanstead that evening. Stayed in Travelodge and flew back to Prestwick following morning.Would not have missed my first venture oversea's with Dundee F.C for anything. Oh for these times again.

Gretna at Dens on Saturday

Dundee might give new signing Jon Boggan a start place for Saturday's vital home game against Gretna, in a game we must win after last Saturday's setback at Firhill. Jon done well on Tuesday's night closed door friendly against Stirling Albion the game ended 3-3.
Hopefully Ludovic Roy will be fit to play, he trained on Thursday, which hopefully is a good sign.