Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
In bonkers second tier
IT’S a frustrating time at Dens Park right now but that’s something Dundee fans will have to get used to because the Championship very rarely goes the way you expect it to.
This weekend was a case in point for the unpredictable nature of Scotland’s second tier.
The two league leaders, Dundee United and Ayr, both lost, third-placed Inverness were pegged back to draw and the Dark Blues dropped out of the play-off spots as Partick moved to within 10 points of the top of the division despite still being bottom.
After the first quarter to still have the entire table that bunched up is incredible, even for this bonkers division.
Dundee are now closer to the foot of the Championship than the top, which will be a concern for all at Dens Park.
However, the bigger worry is, of course, the nature of their defeat on Saturday at home to Partick.
A collapse is putting it nicely – sitting at Palmerston it looked like James McPake’s side were just going to see out the result from afar.
Ending up on the end of a 3-1 defeat is a body blow, though, for the Dark Blues.
Especially with everyone above them dropping points.
The month ahead will be a testing one for the Dens men – one that could make or break their campaign.
Friday night’s clash at Ayr is massive but they must look at it as an opportunity to get closer to the Honest Men.
They aren’t exactly flying since
Ian McCall left, heading into this one with defeats to Caley Thistle and Dunfermline at their back.
Even though they’ve appointed Mark Kerr as their new manager, there will be a fragility there that Dundee can jump all over.
The key will be preventing the same sort of defensive collapse that cursed them at the weekend.
After that is a trip to Alloa before home games against Morton and Dundee United.
Putting together a run of results in these next four games would put Dundee right in the mix with the league leaders.
Fail to do that and the top teams will begin to really stretch away.
The way the league is right now, nobody is taking advantage of others dropping points – it’s time the Dark Blues began to do that.
They are yet to really put in a statement performance, one that makes the rest of the league sit up and take notice.
I can’t think of a better time to do just that than in front of the TV cameras on Friday night.