Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Dee defenders the real stars at Partick
RIGHTLY so, Simon Murray has been stealing the headlines for Dundee this week but what should encourage fans is the emergence of a solid-looking back line.
Murray grabbed his first goals in dark blue in the late comeback at Partick Thistle on Saturday.
However, that wouldn’t have been possible if the centre of the Dundee defence in particular hadn’t been in top form.
Steven Caulker is the big name and has been a cut above in his two matches since signing for the club.
He looks a player able to handle defending on his own and is a monster of a threat in the opposing penalty area.
However, the player that impressed me most at the weekend was Josh Meekings.
He’s been decent enough since joining back in August but, after a serious injury, it’s taken him a wee while to really show what he can do.
On Saturday, though, he was top notch.
With the score at 0-0, he made a huge challenge to stop Conor Sammon when it looked like the big striker was in for an easy chance.
He hurt himself in that one and, with his history of knee injuries, it looked worrying but he was eventually able to carry on. And that turned out to be key for the Dark Blues as the match progressed.
Meekings then made another timely block before the home side pushed ahead and, again in the second half, stepped in to prevent Thistle going two up and possibly home and hosed.
Goalkeeper Elliott Parish deserves a mention, too, for coming up with a big save to stop Chris Erskine at 1-0 also.
If they can keep those three fit and sharp, that’ll give Neil McCann a really solid base to build on.
Since Jack Hendry left, the Dark Blues have looked suspect at the back and always likely to give teams a chance to get ahead or back into games.
For me, though, a strong central defence of Caulker and Meekings with Parish behind looks good and should give the side a foundation to keep themselves away from trouble at least.
Keep teams out at the back and having Simon Murray up top looks a pretty decent set-up to me.
It might just be too late for a go at the top six, though.