Dundee 1, Raith Rovers 1, Dens Park, Scottish Championship, 31-October-20

Dundee started with same team as last week as they entertained league leaders Raith Rovers to Dens Park.  Due to the wind and rain lately the Dens pitch is looking good.

Raith kicked the game off and they look like they will hit on the break at speed, it was good to see Dundee looking positive and the midfield looked  well balanced. 

Dundee had a few chances and Jordan Marshall shot into the side netting when he might have done beteer from a great pass from Danny Mullen. Rovers put plenty of dangerous balls into the box but thet failed to trouble dee keeper Calum Ferrie.

Dundee opened the scoring with a great goal from Charlie Adam  took the ball from Declan McDaid, made space for himself and arrowed a perfect low shot into the corner of the net from 22 yards.

Dundee could have added before half time and finished the half well on top.

Second half and it was all Dundee and were unlucky when a Marshall cross/shot was smashed onto the bar by Rovers defender Hendry. 

Dundee made two changes with Mullen and Adam being replaced by Elliott and McGowan and it was the last 20 minutes that Rovers got back into the game. 

With only three minutes to go they levelled a simple cross fell kindly for Musonda to bundle home from six yards.

The game ended and it was like a defeat, two points dropped, they need to kill off teams when leading  1-0. With Adam and Mullen going off both had knocks it did effect the team. 

Fair play to Raith Rovers who went forward and they will feel they deserved the draw.

Dundee: Ferrie, Kerr, Ashcroft, McGhee (c), Marshall, McDaid (Anderson 84), Byrne, Adam (McGowan 75), Dorrans, Mullen (Elliot 69), Afolabi. Unused Subs: Hamilton , Robertson, Luke Strachan, Blacklock

Ref: Alan Newlands

My MoM: Charlie Adam 

Played Behind Closed Doors

Dundee 1, Morton 0, Dens Park, SPFL Scottish Championship, 24-October-20

 Dundee took on Morton at Home this afternoon in what was the second game of this season's Championship. Manager James McPake made the following changes to the team which lost at Tynecastle last week. Calum Ferrie, Shaun Byrne, Declan McDaid, Danny Mullen and Jonathan Afolabi came into the starting line-up. Jack Hamilton, Finlay Robertson and Paul McGowan moved onto the bench while Jordon Forster and Osman Sow were injured.

Dundee started well and took the lead after just 4 minutes when a Declan McDaid’s cross from the right was headed clear as far as Jordan Marshall, just outside the penalty box. He took a touch, drove the ball back into the danger area. Jonathan Afolabi  scored  with a perfectly struck volley from 10 yards.

Dundee continued to play attack football and forced a lot of corners which were not turned into goals, the midfield looked good going forward. Calum Ferrie made a decent save to deny Cameron Blue. 

Dundee started the second half well and Charlie Adam just about to shoot for goal, but was crowded out and the chance was gone. 

Morton came back into the game and twice went close with headers from close range, both teams made changes. Dundee kept attacking but just failed to deliver the final touch in front of goal. Morton was down to ten men when Muirhead was send off after getting booked he clapped the Referee who then send him off.

The last 10 minutes and Dundee were happy to soak up any pressure from Morton and Calum Ferrie made a fine save in injury time to seal the points for the home side.

Dundee: Ferrie, Kerr, Ashcroft, McGhee (c), Marshall, McDaid, Byrne, Adam (Elliott 69), Dorrans

Mullen (McGowan 75), Afolabi. Unused Subs: Hamilton, Robertson, Anderson, Blacklock, Danny Strachan.

Ref: Gavin Ross

Played Behind Closed Doors

MOM: Cammy Kerr

Hearts 6, Dundee 2, Tynecastle, Scottish Championship, 16-October-20

 Dundee played at Tynecastle in the first league game of the season. Manager James McPake goes with just one striker with Osman Sow upfront with likely Paul McGowan giving a helping hand in a midfield five for the Dark Blues.

Hearts get off to the perfect start scoring after only four minutes when Smith nets. Dundee tried to come back, but the midfield seems to be over loaded. Charlie Adam does well and Gordon has to make a smart save.

Hearts go two up when after slack play from the Dundee defence and Ginnelly scores. Dundee come back and Charlie Adam makes a surging run into the box and lashes the ball home for a great goal.

Hearts went up 3-1 from the spot when Marshall handled in the box, Boyce scored with ease.

Dundee kept going but it was 4-1 in injury time when Kingsley scored from a free kick which gave Hamilton no chance.

Dundee made changes second half with Danny Mullen and Jonathan Afolabi coming on and they made a difference to the shape of the Dundee side when Dundee had several efforts on goal. They did pull one back when after good play from Afolabi the ball breaks to Danny Mullen to net with a neat chip over Craig Gordon.

Two late goals from Hearts sealed the three points for the home side. Next week Dundee face Morton at Dens in a must win game as it's a short season and bouncing back after a defeat is so important.

Dundee: Hamilton, McGhee, Forster (Afolabi at half time), Ashcroft, Kerr, Adam, Robertson (Anderson 77), Marshall, Dorrans, Sow (Mullen 51) , McGowan. Unused Sub: Ferrie (gk), McDaid, Elliott.

Ref: David Munro

A bad start for the dark blues and for me started the game with the wrong line up and formation. We need to start with two strikers. We must let other teams worry about a attacking Dundee side!

Dundee win at Brora...............

 Dundee beat Brora Rangers 2-0 this afternoon in the Betfred Cup. Goals from Graham Dorrans and Danny Mullen in the first half sealed the win for the dark blues. They top the table from Hibs on goal difference. 

Dundee: Hamilton, McGhee, Forster, Ashcroft, Elliott (Kerr 78), Adam (Byrne 78), Anderson (Robertson 78), Marshall, Dorrans, Mullen (Sow 58), McGowan (McDaid 78) Unused Subs: Ferrie (gk), Cunningham, Blacklock, Danny Strachan.

Forfar Game called Off

 Dundee's game v Forfar Athletic was called off after one of the Forfar players tested positive for Covid 19. It was the best thing to do at this present time. Dundee were awarded a 3-0 win keeping in line of what happened to the Kilmarnock v Falkirk game.

Dundee will travel to Brora this Saturday for the next Betfred Cup game.

Osman Signs................

Osman Sow has signed a one year deal with the club, the Ex Hearts, Dundee United striker looks to kick start his career at Dens. He may prove to be a good signing for the club. He started his career in Sweden before moving to Crystal Palace. Then on to Hearts, loan spells at MK Dons, Kilmarnock and Dundee United.

Osman will wear number 21 this season. 

Good To See...........

 It was good to see Dundee playing a game at Dens for the first time in six months, they beat Peterhead in a closed door friendly. Paul McGowan scored after 40 minutes. Manager James McPake was happy with the performance and it will help the fitness of the players.

Dundee Sign Charlie Adam

 Dundee have signed Charlie Adam on a two year contract, a very good signing for the club. Charlie has played for Ross County, St Mirren, Rangers, Stoke City, Liverpool, Blackpool and Reading. He has also played for Scotland. 

The Midfielder will wear Number 26 this season, and Charlie trained with the club this morning after signing yesterday.

Charlie did play for Dundee as a guest for the Julian Speroni Testimonial.

Betfred Cup Games....

 Dundee will start the Season with two Betfred Cup games, first they play Forfar Athletic at Dens on Tuesday 6th October.  Next up will be a visit to play Brora Rangers at Dungeon Park. 

The other two game will be played in November Cove Rangers at Dens and a visit to Easter Road to play Hibernian which will be live on Premier Sports.

Blast From The Past

 

Great team really enjoyed watching them during season 1981-82.

Betfred Cup Draw

Dundee will play Hibernian (Top Seeds), Forfar Athletic, Brora Rangers, and Cove Rangers. We have been drawn into Group B as 2nd seeds for the 2020/21 Betfred Cup Group stage.

Tough getting Hibernian as they have started the season well, but a good group of games which will test Dundee and their new look team.

Dates and games will be announced later this week. 

Kane Leaves...............

Kane Hemmings has left the club by mutual consent, his second spell at Dundee was not as successful as the first time. Kane scored 10 goals last season after arriving in 2019.

Alex Signs..................

Dundee Football Club have signed Alex Jakubiak on a two year deal. Striker Alex joins after leaving Watford at the end of his contract in the summer. Alex came through the youth ranks at Vicarage Road and went on to make his debut in the English Championship at the age of 17.

He went on to have nine loan spells during his time at Watford. Gaining experience in League One and League Two down south. North of the border he scored 7 goals in 18 games for Falkirk.

His most recent loan spell saw him back in Scotland, this time in the Premiership with St. Mirren. He opened his account for the Buddies in the Scottish Cup against Motherwell before seeing his time in Paisley cut short by the premature ending to the season.

He joins Dundee on a two year deal and will wear number 7. 

Blast From The Past.......

Danny Signs.......

Dundee have signed Danny Mullen on a two year contract after the striker was released by St Mirren. 

Danny has been at St Mirren for three years after joining from Livingston for a reported five figure fee.

Danny will wear number 9 at Dens and l'm happy enough with this signing. 

News From Dens Park

Its been a tough period for Dundee Football Club due to the virus and ending of the season early. Next season will be tough as we will have a smaller squad. All the pressure will be on Hearts to win the league. I'm sure the fans will back the club and do what they can to help during this time.

Player wise Andrew Nelson has left the club, along with Josh Meekings. The players also took a wage cut to help the club so it has been tough for them as well. Loan signing have all went back to their clubs. I like Berra so likely he will get another chance at Hearts after they changed manager a few weeks ago.

Hopefully we can get some players in before the start of the season One so far Central defender Lee  Ashcroft signed after being released by Dunfermline Ath. Lee has signed for two years so it's  a good signing for the club , he has played a lot of games in the last five years. Lee also played for Kilmarnock and played at Dens in 2013  making his debut.

As usual the fixtures are not great for me, with only able to go to six home games without taking Holidays. I 'm sure i will take some the only down point could be Friday night games when the games gets switched from Saturday to the Friday night and I'm off the Saturday and down to work on the Friday. So for me to buy a season ticket will cost me around £42 a game if l manage 6 games it will go down the more i can go to. Say at most 10 games it's still £25.50 per game so maybe can manage that. With the virus we don't know when we could go anyway and that is not great for us Dundee fans.

Dundee start with Hearts (away) and will face twice away from home , Twice at Inverness CT and Queen of the South so again the Scottish league do nothing to help Dundee FC.

Anyway that is my rant over and I  look forward to hopefully seeing some games this season.

My New Blog

Seeing I'm at home for the lock down l have started a new blog for my DFC programmes the link is below:

https://mydfcprogrammes.blogspot.com/

Games Off

Dundee's future games have been called off due to The Corona Virus, hopefully it will clear. But if not I hope that it does not have a massive effect on my football club. Only time will tell.

My Programmes From The Past

Dundee lost the game 5-1, Doug Houston scored for Dundee in front of a 9,083 crowd at The Dell.

Dundee 2, Ayr United 0, Dens Park, Ladbrokes Championship, 10-March-20

Dundee beat Ayr United 2-0 in a entertaining game last Tuesday night, they got off to the perfect start when Kane Hemmings scored after a neat flick on from Paul McGowan. Dundee had numerous chances in the first half but failed to put the ball into the net. Ayr were unlucky a couple of time when good football could have seen them level the game.

Second half and the game was still end to end with Dundee maybe looking more dangerous in the final third. Maybe the turning point was when Ollie Crackshaw replaced Andrew Nelson and the Dee looked to finish the game. The second goal came late on , but it was well worth the wait to finally for me to see Dundee win at home this year. 

A big mistake from Mark Kerr and Dorrans picked the ball up and  fed Ollie Crankshaw who scored his first goal for Dundee to seal the points. Again another clean sheet for the team, l also thought Christophe Berra was immense and has proved a great signing. Also Connor Hazard has done well on his second spell at the club on loan.

Dundee: Hazard, Meekings (c), Forster, Berra, Elliott, Dorrans, McGowan (Robertson 77), Byrne, McDaid, Hemmings (Ness 90+3), Nelson (Cranshaw 73) Unused Subs: Sharp, Kerr, Field, Cameron.

Att:4,670

Ref: John Beaton