The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Dark Blues boss is left angry and frustrated
McCann bemoans failure to convert ‘100% chances’
HAMILTON 3 DUNDEE 0
In the build-up to the start of the Premiership season, Dundee boss Neil McCann gathered his players together for a chat.
He told them, in no uncertain terms, they could not afford to start this league campaign the way they ended the last one.
Just to recap, the final two fixtures in May saw the Dark Blues lose at home to a team from the Highlands (Inverness) and then get hammered by Hamilton away from home.
As someone once said, it is déjà vu all over again.
Instead of getting off to a flyer, the Dens men have done exactly what their manager asked them not to do and find themselves bottom of the table after losing to Ross County and Hamilton.
The Dens gaffer was left frustrated and angry by this 3-0 loss on Saturday, the former because of spurned chances and the latter due to bad defending, particularly at Accies’ second goal.
Scott Allan and Faissal El Bakhtaoui missed gilt-edged opportunities in the opening 10 minutes before the visitors followed suit with a succession of nearthings in the latter stages of the match, including Allan’s sky-high spot-kick.
McCann said: “I’m so frustrated because you just look at each other and you just know what you’re going to face at Hamilton.
“I thought we did start the game really well and didn’t take the clear-cut chances.
“Looking at the end of the game we’ve probably got five, maybe six, 100% chances to score.
“They were not even good chances, they should have been in.
“I then thought we totally dominated the second half from start to finish.
“The penalty summed it up because we didn’t even hit the target.
“I told the players that I can’t be too hard on them in terms of rolling over and surrendering because they didn’t do that. They kept going, kept pushing and creating chances.
“But if you don’t take chances, you probably don’t deserve to get anything.
“I am so frustrated and I am angry at the two goals we lost (other than the penalty).
“It was a cheap goal from a set-piece for the first one, then the second goal was the one that really bothered the coaching staff because we have worked very hard at eradicating the space he (scorer Steven Boyd) ran into.
“As a back four, we have said to them that we are not going to accept that.
“We will batter it into them until it becomes second nature.”
So the derby delight didn’t last long for Dundee as they made it two successive defeats in the Premiership.
The Dark Blues may have gotten the better of neighbours Dundee United in the Betfred Cup on Wednesday but they came off second best to Accies.
Added to the home loss to County the previous weekend, it leaves them without any points a couple of matches into the campaign.
It could have been so different had they made the most of their blistering start in Lanarkshire.
The visitors squandered a couple of excellent early chances, with Allan and El Bakhtaoui the guilty parties.
They were made to pay when Darian MacKinnon’s well-placed strike made it 1-0 on 25 minutes, then Boyd’s clever chip doubled Hamilton’s lead on 36 minutes.
Allan should have got one back for the visitors on 78 minutes but skied his spotkick.
Accies grabbed their third from the spot up at the other end, through Dougie Imrie, with just five minutes to go.
The Dark Blues made two changes to the side that started the derby win over United.
Winger Roarie Deacon picked up a knock against the Tangerines so didn’t feature, while young central defender Kerr Waddell was given a place on the bench despite playing so well in the cuptie.
Waddell’s spot was taken by skipper Darren O’Dea, now free of suspension, while Randy Wolters started out wide.
Hamilton created a good chance after just two minutes, with Boyd shooting over the bar after an Ioannis Skondras cross was headed on by Ali Crawford.
The Dark Blues broke clear through Allan a couple of minutes later but the midfielder cut it back to Marcus Haber and the Canadian’s shot was blocked.
The ball came back to Allan, whose strike was saved by keeper Gary Woods.
There was then a remarkable let-off for Accies as Dundee frontman El Baktaoui had three consecutive strikes at goal.
The first shot was saved by Woods, the rebound hit the post and the third attempt flew wide.
Having enjoyed the mother of escapes, Accies took the lead on minutes.
A corner from the left was floated over by Crawford and eventually made its way to MacKinnon at the edge of the box.
The finish was a good one, with the Accies man sending the ball through a ruck of players and just inside keeper Scott Bain’s right-hand post.
Rakish Bingham was unsuccessful with an overhead kick as Hamilton looked for a second goal.
They made it 2-0 on 36 minutes. The man inflicting the pain was Boyd, with a sublime finish.
He was found by a great pass from MacKinnon and took a terrific first touch before lifting the ball over the head of Bain from 25 yards.
In first-half stoppage time Dundee captain O’Dea required treatment but was able to play on, while Haber headed into Woods’ arms from an Allan corner as the whistle was blown for the interval. all 25
Captain Darren O’Dea insists Dundee are a “different animal” to what they were last season despite their poor start to the Premiership.
The Dark Blues are sitting bottom of the table after their opening-day defeat to Ross County at Dens was followed by a 3-0 loss to Hamilton Accies on Saturday.
With a daunting set of league fixtures against Aberdeen (a), Hibs (h), Rangers (a) and St Johnstone (h) to come before the Betfred Cup quarter-final against Celtic, there is a danger that the Dens men could find themselves in deep trouble very quickly.
However, O’Dea insists that Neil McCann’s side are better than the team that just avoided the playoff spot last May and are closer to getting it right than they were for long spells under previous boss Paul Hartley.
The Irishman, who hobbled off with a knee injury early in the second half on Saturday and will get a scan today, said: “We do need to pick up points now but I think we are a different animal to last year – that’s for sure. “The character in the team is different. “The two matches we have lost have been on a knife-edge and we could have gotten something out of both games.”