HIGHLAND CLEARANCE
Dundee’s wait for win at Caley goes on
YOU have to go back nearly seven years to November 2009 to discover the last time Dundee managed to beat Inverness Caley Thistle.
On the evidence of this performance, Dark Blues fans may have to wait at least as long again for another victory over their Highland rivals.
An even starker statistic is that Dundee have never won at the Caledonian Stadium, and their ninth try at breaking that duck was arguably as poor as any previous attempt to do so.
To his credit Paul Hartley, the Dundee manager, did not pull his punches — or complain about the penalty-kick decision that went against his team.
‘The performance wasn’t good enough and I’ll accept criticism in terms of this,’ he said. ‘Too many of them had a bad day at the office.
‘In terms of the whole team, it wasn’t a good performance. There were no positives.
‘In all departments we were second best — defending, passing and attacking. It was just a really bad day for us.’
Inverness were comfortable winners to the extent that they might easily have doubled their tally of goals had their finishing been a little more polished.
They also found away goalkeeper Scott Bain in inspired form as they sought to extend their unbeaten Premiership run to four matches following three consecutive defeats to start with.
But Bain was powerless to deny the opposition victory on top of a win against St Johnstone and successive draws with Aberdeen and Celtic.
Two goals to the good after 17 minutes, Inverness’s pace and ability to switch the play had the opposition very much on the back foot.
Inverness’s play gave Ross Draper a chance after seven minutes but the midfielder’s effort from eight yards was saved by Bain.
It turned out to be the briefest of respites, however, as Dundee were punished a minute later when they conceded the first goal.
Lonsana Doumbouya judged Brad McKay’s cross from the right perfectly and was able to send his glancing header from 12 yards past Bain to celebrate his first goal for the club in only his second start since signing a two-year deal last month.
The circumstances surrounding the second goal were much less clear. Referee Kevin Clancy judged that Billy King had been impeded by Julen Etxabeguren and pointed to the penalty spot in the 16th minute.
Hartley posed the question: ‘Was it a penalty? I’m not quite sure. I don’t think we have to make the challenge, although I didn’t think it was a bad one and we have to do better on the defending side.’
Greg Tansey didn’t give Bain any chance to retrieve the situation.
But Dundee responded with a little more positivity than they had shown previously and Owain Fon Williams had to produce two saves to deny Faissal El Bakhtaoui and Cammy Kerr, in turn.
But any window of opportunity was slammed shut when Liam Polworth claimed Caley Thistle’s third goal after 51 minutes.
Draper won a challenge and the ball broke to McKay, who slipped a pass to Polworth to complete the rudimentary task of scoring from close range.
The immaculate Bain made crucial saves from Jake Mulraney, Draper and McKay, while Gary Warren had a header cleared off the line before Nicky Low claimed a consolation goal for Dundee in the 84th minute.
His free-kick from 25 yards was impressive and Hartley added: ‘It was good for him to score.
‘It’s been a long time coming and he’s had a lot of injuries since arriving at the club. He was one of the few plus points.’
Inverness manager Richie Foran reflected: ‘We scored goals at the right time and we took three of five or six chances which was brilliant.
‘The back four, along with Owain, were also colossal. But there’s a lot more to come from us.
‘Hopefully our bad spell is out of the way, although there was no panic after the start we had and it never affected us mentally.’
He added in praise of McKay and Doumbouya: ‘Brad picked him out well and Lonsana’s a big boy who wants to attack crosses, so he will thrive on service like that.’