Hartley’s Dundee can’t stop the rot
THE mood of both managers in the wake of this first Tayside derby of the season could hardly have been more contrasting.
Second-half goals from skipper Steven Anderson and in-form winger Danny Swanson, the latter from the penalty spot, were enough to see off the Dark Blues and ease Saints past Rangers into fourth place in the Premiership.
While it was a satisfying day for Perth boss Tommy Wright, it was another doom-laden afternoon for counterpart Paul Hartley.
This was his team’s fifth straight defeat, with Rory Loy’s late spot-kick arriving too late in proceedings to offer any genuine hope.
Dundee haven’t won since the opening day of the season and now face Partick Thistle and Hamilton Accies in quick succession. These are games which offer a potential escape route from the bottom of the table.
But Dens Park fans are only too aware of the fate which befell neighbours United after they found themselves in a similar scenario last season.
Hartley said: ‘We’re in a position where we don’t want to be and we have to turn it around quickly.
‘That has to start on Wednesday. Partick Thistle is a vital game for us now. We’re ten games in. It’s not been good enough — and that can become a habit.
‘We can’t keep saying it’s going to turn next week, it has to turn now.
‘We’re in a position where we are in a fight already and we have to get ourselves out of it.
‘We know and the players know they can’t keep saying: “We’re good enough”.
‘It’s about results now and that has to start against Thistle on Wednesday. It’s a vital game for the team. If you’re on a losing run, then you’ve got to start getting worried. So we have to make sure we fight to get a result.’
Naturally, Wright was the happier manager but admitted his nerves were stretched to breaking point when opening goalscorer Anderson presented Loy with a late penalty to trim the deficit.
‘It was definitely more nervy that it should have been at the end,’ said the Northern Irishman. ‘But we saw it out and got the win, which we certainly deserved. The league table looks good but I don’t see any prizes being given out at this stage and we won’t be complacent about it.
‘What we’ve done is made a very good start to the first batch of games when, generally, we have tended to be slower starters.’
Saints dominated territorially in the first half, but Dundee keeper Scott Bain wasn’t seriously tested.
Hartley’s (right) men were left to regret squandering the most clear-cut opening of the first half when Paul McGowan picked out Yordi Teijsse’s run into the penalty area with a precise pass. The Dutchman was only 12 yards out but trundled his shot straight at keeper Zander Clark when he should have been celebrating his first league goal in Scotland. Saints keeper Clark had to be more alert shortly afterwards when he pushed Tom Hateley’s 20-yard free-kick round the post. At the other end, Bain fended off two long-range curling efforts from Swanson, while a drilled shot from Murray Davidson just evaded the touch of striker Chris Kane in the 27th minute. Davidson was then booked by referee Andrew Dallas after stumbling in the box, despite protesting his innocence.
Not surprisingly, given the dearth of a cutting edge up front from either side, it was a defender who ended the stalemate.
Liam Craig’s 62nd-minute free-kick from deep on the right evaded the Dens backline, allowing Perth captain Anderson to steal in at the back and sweep a close-range finish high into the net past Bain.
Then Swanson stroked home a 75th-minute penalty after Dundee defender Kevin Gomis recklessly fouled Steven MacLean to pick up a caution.
That ensured there was to be no way back for Dundee, despite Anderson’s needless late barge on Teijsse presenting Loy with a penalty, which he calmly slotted past Clark.