Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Dundee drown out Dens furore to make top six
DUNDEE will finish this season as one of the top six sides in Scotland.
The celebrations at Pittodrie were testament to the team built by Tony Docherty and the work put in by those players.
The 0-0 draw at Aberdeen may not have been the most exciting of contests.
But it got the job done.
And Dundee’s total of 40 points is already enough to secure a tophalf finish with one game still to play.
Tele Sport was there to analyse all the action.
This was a match that Dundee really should have won.
With the wind behind them first half, Aberdeen started well and Duk was a real handful – three Dundee players were booked within 23 minutes, all for fouls on the winger.
Within 15 minutes, Docherty had changed his formation. Gone was the familiar 3-5-2, changed to a 4-5-1 that could become 4-3-3 in attack.
That seemed to settle the visitors and they came into the game, finishing the half with the best effort so far as a tidy passing move eventually found Lyall Cameron. His fine strike clipped the bar.
Second-half, though, they were knocking on the door. Harder and harder.
Cameron had one blocked on the line, Curtis Main had a goal disallowed for offside and there were a few other moments that on another day go their way.
News emerged in the stands that Motherwell had equalised against Hibs – what a goal it was too – and suddenly Dundee changed tack.
Immediately it was a case of getting the ball into the corner and defensive reinforcements were on.
It did the trick as the Dark Blues earned their top-six place.
Dundee’s main goal this season was to stay up, an objective any newly promoted side would have.
Now they are 100% guaranteed Premiership football next season.
The celebrations at Pittodrie showed just what an achievement it is for the club.
No doubt added to by the bruising week of mud-slinging about the state of the Dens Park pitch.
Much of that has been over the top, particularly the angry Rangers statement.
Radio presenter Simon Jordan ended up being the level-headed voice in the crowd, which is a very strange thing to write.
The players insist all that furore had no effect on them but it must have. Their club was under fire and it’s difficult to detach from that.
But they were able to have some fun with it at full-time – Luke McCowan donning goggles in a cheeky dig at all the coverage of their waterlogged pitch.
That moment at the final whistle was not only a celebration of a job well done across an entire season but also a slice of redemption for Dundee Football Club after a tough old week.
The SPFL no doubt breathed a sigh of relief, too, when the Dee clinched their spot and eased their headache over “sporting integrity”.
Dundee’s choice of manager last summer was a surprise one for many.
Docherty had been a long-time assistant of Derek McInnes but had also worked with Dee technical director Gordon Strachan with Scotland.
He’d been a No 2 so long, it was assumed that’s where he was going to stay.
Nope. He fancied taking the plunge as a manager in his own right and boy has it paid off for the Dark Blues.
Docherty has been backed but the crucial thing is he has used that backing to real effect.
John Nelms has said after almost every promotion that he
wants the club to be in the top six. However, it’s unlikely that was an expectation in Docherty’s first campaign. He’s over-achieved with this team and the foundations laid bode well for the future.
Lyall Cameron was the best player on the park at Pittodrie. By a distance.
He came closest to breaking the deadlock and is fast developing into a fine Premiership player.
His passing is always on point – Cameron has the best passing accuracy in the Dundee squad.
For a playmaker tasked with creating opportunities by taking on more difficult passes, 80% passing accuracy is impressive.
Next on the list is Malachi Boateng on 77%, ahead of Josh Mulligan on 76%.
Cameron is now one of the first names on the team sheet.
Dundee can’t finish below sixth now. They can finish higher, though.
St Mirren’s form has been poor – one point picked up from the last 12 available.
And Dundee are now only three points behind the Buddies in fifth.
That position is likely to earn a place in the Europa Conference League next term, unless Aberdeen go on and win the Scottish Cup.
The European spot for winning the cup transfers to the Premiership’s fifth-placed team if the winner has already qualified for Europe, which Rangers, Celtic and Hearts have done.
Paul Hartley, Jim Duffy and Ivano Bonetti all took Dundee into the top six – they haven’t finished fifth since 1999 under Jocky Scott, though.
Fifth is very much on now…