Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Dee winless run goes on
Hemmings header cancels out Linn’s first-half opener
J UST fou r yea rs ago, Arbroath were fighting for senior football survival wh i l e D u n d e e we r e earning an eighth-placed Premiership finish.
Now, the two sides are battling it out in the Championship with very little between them – that says as much about the rise from nothing made by the Red Lichties as it does the demise of the Dark Blues.
In season 2015/16, Dick Campbell was brought in to save the Gayfield side from relegation from League Two – he managed that, finishing a place above doomed East Stirlingshire.
At the same time, Paul Hartley was trying to follow up a top-six finish at Dens Park with James McPake as his captain.
Fast forward four years it’s Arbroath on the up after promotion, Dundee on a downer following relegation and, after 90 hard-fought minutes this weekend at Gayfield, there’s little to split them.
There’s barely any room between the sides in the league table either as sharing the points over the weekend leaves just one point separating the Dark Blues in sixth and the Red Lichties in seventh.
Dundee, obviously, have far loftier targets than scraping around for a play-off spot but they’ve a long, long road to travel before really convincing this campaign.
James’ men headed into this one on the back of three damaging defeats in a row while the hosts were full of vim and vigour.
And that showed in the opening half.
There were a couple of nearly moments for Dundee’s front pairing of Kane Hemmings and Danny Johnson but it was at the other end where the chances were coming.
That was the direction the fierce wind was heading.
In the opening minutes, it could have been made even harder for the visitors as centre-back Jordon Forster – a week after his howler gifted three points to Queen of the South – was a little lucky not to see red inside three minutes after taking down Scott Stewart as he ran in behind.
Forster made up for that with a fine block to deny Tam O’Brien shortly after and Michael McKenna ensured Jack Hamilton was on his toes with a glancing header.
The Lichties finally got their opener late in the half and there was no other man to score it.
After leaving Dens Park at the start of his career, Dundonian Bobby Linn has become a talisman for Arbroath.
He enjoys that role and he certainly enjoyed scoring against his former side as he swept in a superb opening goal.
Found in space outside the area on a slight angle, Linn faced up Cammy Kerr, took a touch inside and curled it past the despairing Hamilton.
In the second half, Dundee had the wind at their backs but, early on, there was nothing from James’ men.
Eventually they got the spark they’ve been crying out for for weeks as Kerr curled in a cracker of a cross and Hemmings met it with an equally-good header on 61 minutes.
Linn would have another good chance to put his side back in front but it was the visitors who were more likely to grab the winner.
Johnson’s shooting sights weren’t quite zeroed in, however, as he screwed a couple of presentable chances just wide of the post.
There wasn’t enough to end their winless run as that extended to four Championship games.
The good news is this was a step, if a small one, in the right direction.
The bad news is the rest of the league aren’t hanging around to see if Dundee are going to keep up. The Dark Blues’ downer can’t go on for much longer.