A case of Dee-ja vu

PLAYERRATINGS Same old story as Dark Blues dominate in defeat

YES, it happened again — yet another Dundee loss after absolutely battering an opponent.

We’ve seen this pattern before this season. Dundee dominate but conspire to l ose i n the most bemusing of fashions.

Partick Thistle, Kilmarnock and even champions Celtic have benefited from Dundee’s inability to put chances away in the form of three points.

This time around it was Motherwell who escaped a clash with Neil McCann’s side with all the spoils — and it didn’t take much to get them.

With the Steelmen’s only shot of the game, Craig Tanner stroked the ball into an empty net on 33 minutes to give the ’Well a crucial Premiership win and all but blow Dundee’s top-six aspirations out of the water.

The close-range strike was Tanner’s fourth in as many games against Dundee as he continues to come back to haunt the Dark Blues.

And things are about to get a whole lot scarier for the Dens Park men.

A tough run ahead sees them face four of the current top six in Celtic, Rangers, Aberdeen and Hearts, as well as St Johnstone, in their last five games before the Premiership splits in two.

Those fixtures mean Dundee’s faint hopes of being on the right side of that divide have faded away.

They will be in the bottom half of the league once again come the end of their difficult stretch in mid-April and may just look back on Saturday’s loss to Stephen Robinson’s side as an opportunity missed.

On a day where the bottom six clubs faced off against one another, three points would have been huge in what is now a fight against relegation.

Instead, St Johnstone won to leapfrog the Dee, with Hamilton also closing in after their victory.

As much as they dominated play and had numerous set-pieces, the Dark Blues’ chances were not clear-cut by any stretch.

Nothing seemed to fall their way on a frustrating afternoon for all concerned.

Dundee’s first real opportunity came on 12 minutes when Motherwell defender Charles Dunne headed towards his own goal after a Roarie Deacon long throw caused chaos in the visitors’ box.

Just before the Lanarkshire side scored the game’s only goal, Sofien Moussa hooked a right-foot shot wide after Deacon’s corner.

In the second half, Angolan centrehalf Genseric Kusunga spurned their best chance to equalise.

Kusunga blasted over the bar from 10 yards out after a Cammy Kerr knockdown from a Paul McGowan cross when it seemed easier to score.

From another one of the 12 corners Dundee had, fellow defender Josh Meekings came close with a header but nodded wide.

Simon Murray, looking to follow up his match-winning double at Partick the weekend previous, was foiled by away goalkeeper Trevor Carson on 68 minutes after a terrific run.

Dundee had a late penalty shout, after what appeared to be handball from Cedric Kipre, turned down in stoppage time on an afternoon where nothing went for them.

Up next, the Dee travel to Parkhead to face Celtic on Wednesday.

They will be hopeful after playing well on their last visit to Glasgow’s east end in October but, as we know with Dundee, history has a funny way of repeating itself.