A RACE TO THE BOTTOM
Desperate Dundee meet the suffering Saints today — and whoever loses will be on course to be the worst team in top-flight history
THE smell of sulphur from Bonfire Night has just subsided. Yet, even this early in the season, it has been replaced by an air of desperation for Dundee and St Mirren.
Having now played 12 games and completed their first full round of fixtures, both clubs are rooted in the relegation spots and on track to enter into some unwanted company.
Dundee sit bottom of the pile with three points, while Saints are a point better off in 11th.
On current form, then, both strugglers could be flirting with the unenviable tag of being the worst-ever team in the Scottish top flight.
Since the league was remodelled in 1998, the lowest points tally of any team was the 13 managed by Gretna in 2007-2008, albeit they were deducted ten due to their financial implosion.
Purely in terms of results, Livingston’s total of 18 points from their 38 games in 2005-2006 stands as the record.
Dundee and St Mirren will find themselves in that dark neck of the woods come the end of the season, unless there is significant turnaround in their fortunes.
The appointments of two new bosses were intended to be the catalysts for a revival. But, so far, there hasn’t been the slightest indication of a new-manager bounce at either club.
Oran Kearney has certainly improved the general atmosphere around St Mirren after the ruinous tenure of Alan Stubbs.
But the results haven’t followed suit. After a creditable draw in his opening game against Celtic in September, Saints have lost each of their following seven games under the Northern Irishman.
Meanwhile, McIntyre’s first few weeks in the Dens Park hotseat have been even more desperate.
Dundee have lost all four games under their new boss by an aggregate scoreline of 13-0.
With the teams set for a showdown on Tayside today, there is a danger that defeat for either could cause irreparable psychological damage.
Paisley midfielder Ryan Edwards is under no illusions just how crucial the match is, even at this relatively early stage of the season.
‘This is a cup final, a massive game,’ said the 24-year-old Australian, who is on loan from Hearts and suffered relegation with Partick Thistle last season.
‘We need fight in the team. This game will be a fight — and it has to be, given the situation.
‘It could definitely hurt Dundee if we go there and win. We’re ahead of them in the table — so, if we win, then we’ll increase the gap. That would be tough for them in the dressing room and for their fans.
‘But they’ll be looking at it in the same way and trying to do the same to us. It will be difficult for whoever loses. At this stage of the season, both teams need the three points to stay with the pack.’
That, they do. In a strange sort of way, Dundee and St Mirren should be glad of each other and just how poorly the other has performed over the opening months of the season.
In any other year, teams with such meagre points tallies as theirs would already find themselves cut well adrift at the bottom of the table. One of the main criticisms of Dundee — which has often come from their own midfielder Paul McGowan — is that they are mentally weak and buckle under pressure.
Defender Darren O’Dea believes it is now time for them to stand up and be counted if they are to inject some life into a desperately poor campaign.
Insisting there can be no hiding place today, the Irishman said: ‘The new manager has stretched the tempo of our play — that’s not to say the previous one (Neil McCann) didn’t do it before.
‘But the boss has increased the energy within the team, along with the accountability for both on and off the ball.
‘We know what our job is. So if there’s a problem or a mistake, then it’s clear where the finger should be pointed.
‘That’s what we need now — accountability. There’s no point hiding behind things.
‘We need people to pull each other up and to create an environment where we’re pushing each other.
‘It can’t always be nicey-nicey. Of course, we encourage each other and that’s a big part of what I’m about.’
With the two managers still chasing their first victories at their new clubs, both will be anxious to get that particular monkey off their back and taking three much-needed points.
St Mirren’s best two performances of the season have, rather perversely, come against both halves of the Old Firm.
There was much to admire in how they played against Rangers last week, despite falling to a late defeat, and Edwards insists it will be Dundee who feel the heat.
‘We’re ahead (in the table), so the pressure has to be on Dundee,’ he added. ‘We are away from home, but we must take the game to them.’
O’Dea seemed happy to embrace that suggestion, adding: ‘I hope there is pressure going into this game.
‘There’s always pressure and expectation — but we’re in a situation now where there is intense pressure.
‘It’s about how you handle it and how we do that within this game. So I won’t be shying away from that in any way.’
Whatever the outcome of today’s encounter, it is imperative that — for both clubs — any momentum is harnessed and used as a springboard going forward.
Effectively speaking for his team and St Mirren, Edwards added: ‘There will come a point when things turn for you. But you need to sustain that. There’s no point winning one game and then losing the next eight.’
As things stand, McIntyre’s men and Kearney’s players are currently sleepwalking towards relegation.
They need to wake up before they find themselves in the lastchance saloon... if they aren’t there already.