Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Three late goals sink Dundee at soggy Dens Park
Players, not pitch, to blame for throwing away victory
NEVER mind the pitch, it’ll be the Dundee players who were reluctant to come out from under the covers on Sunday morning.
Two-nil up and sitting pretty with a top-six spot set to be all wrapped up with a couple of matches to spare, Dees could be forgiven for thinking it was too simple – and completely unfamiliar – to see their side secure Premiership safety with seven matches still to go.
But the players showed nothing is ever simple when Dundee are involved. This was the sorest defeat of the season for the Dark Blues because of what was at stake.
Hold on for the win and the top six was assured. With it, an ironclad guarantee of Premiership football next season. Beyond that, the gap to a potential European slot held by St Mirren would be cut to just one point – but they couldn’t hold on.
Courier Sport was there to analyse all the action.
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Dundee had the better of the first half and grabbed the opener through Jordan McGhee, but it was all Motherwell in the second.
Despite that, Luke McCowan grabbed a wonderful second goal, curling in straight from a corner-kick.
It took an unfortunate penalty decision to allow the visitors a route back into the contest, but after that Dundee can only look at themselves. Between Georgie Gent making it 2-1 on 79 minutes and the 85th minute it could easily have been 4-2 to Motherwell.
The home defence was all over the place. Rarely has this Dee defence looked so stretched, but far too often we’ve seen points thrown away late in games.
It has been a real weakness for a team that otherwise would be sailing into the top six and even higher.
Decisions
Dens boss Tony Docherty pointed to the VAR decision to award a penalty to Motherwell as the turning point in the game.
It’s hard to argue with that.
You can argue with the decisions made by the officials, however. With the handball law as it is, Joe Shaughnessy’s block with his arm was always going to be given as a penalty. Regardless of whether he meant it or the ball being struck from no distance. It feels unfair because the defender could do little about it, but that’s the law.
The bigger gripe came due to Gent’s encroachment before knocking in the rebound following McCracken’s spot-kick save.
The full-back was clearly in the box when the ball was struck and therefore his goal shouldn’t have counted. How VAR let that slide, only the officials know.
Pitch
All eyes were on the Dens Park pitch – and it looked horrendous.
The pitch inspection didn’t give much confidence the game would go ahead without a hitch. It appeared bruised and battered and in a sorry state.
The run-up to the game was a farce. A farce of Dundee’s own making.
The day of the game threatened more with two pitch inspections, but they got the game on and further farce was averted.
Once the match started, though, the surface didn’t affect the game too much. How the pitch is shaping up for the visit of Rangers on Wednesday, we’ll have to wait and see.
Main men
Since the calendar ticked over into 2024, Dundee’s top scorers have been Luke McCowan and Jordan McGhee.
Once more, they were the names on the scoresheet. McCowan now has nine goals to his name this season, already the best league tally of his career. Six of those have come in 2024 and in his last eight games.
McGhee, meanwhile, has four in 11 – a super return for a wingback. Both players will be crucial in Dundee’s top-six bid.