Bad luck sinks Dee

PLAYERRATINGS May pounces with Dark Blues down to nine men

PITTODRIE has not been a happy hunting ground for Dundee lately — once more they left disappointed but this time it wasn’t because they were well beaten.

The Dark Blues departed Aberdeen frustrated as a freak combination of events saw a promising performance count for nothing in the final result.

The fact the press box had cause to look up the last time Dundee were victorious at Pittodrie in the middle of the second half — 2004, by the way — shows an away win was a distinct possibility.

The final fact, however, meant that run will continue on into another calendar year.

The moment the match turned on, though, was a combination of a massive slice of bad luck and some naivety from the young Dark Blues side.

Striker Marcus Haber had already been signalling to the bench he was in a bit of pain but decided to play on.

Then, in the 78th minute, he found himself free down the right-wing and threw the ball into the area looking for his strike partner Faissal El Bakhtaoui.

In the process, Haber made his injury worse, ending his game and El Bakhtaoui, in stretching to reach the cross, also hit the deck. Physio Gerry Docherty had his work cut out tending to two injured strikers while the Dundee bench rushed to try to get their subs ready and on the pitch.

The game, though, continued despite the Dark Blues’ insistence that Danny Williams was stripped and ready to play.

Referee Kevin Clancy waved Aberdeen to take their throw-in and Dundee had to try to see out a couple of minutes with just nine men. They didn’t manage it. Midfielder Glen Kamara had the chance to clear the decks and get the ball out of play but chose to pass and the Dark Blues lost the ball which then found Stevie May and he found the corner of Scott Bain’s goal.

It shows the type of player Kamara is, one who always wants to play and keep the ball, but a more experienced man would have shelled it into row Z to allow the subs on.

Over the whole piece, though, Dundee will feel they were worth at least a point.

Totting up clear chances, the Dark Blues had the better of them.

James Vincent was clean through early on but hesitated and keeper Joe Lewis cleared, Haber hit the bar with close-range header while Scott Allan missed a gilt-edged chance just after Roarie Deacon had equalised with an excellently-taken goal.

Latching on to a misplaced pass by Ryan Christie, Deacon drove at the defence, moved the ball on to his right foot and drilled the ball low past the keeper.

At the moment, not much is going the Dark Blues’ way but there’s also an argument they just haven’t been good enough in either box.

The opening goal was a free header for May in the middle of goal — another set-piece where Dundee have been caught short.

Going through all the chances they created against Hamilton and in this game, they’ll wonder how they’ve only netted twice this campaign.

Football in its simplest terms, though, comes down to scoring more goals than the opposition. Continue to pass up good opportunities and then let the other team in at the other end and you’re not going to do that.

Plenty of good things to work on for Neil McCann but his side really need to start hitting the net before long.