The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Dee hit for six in nightmare show
Dundee boss James Mc Pake says he didn’ t see his side’ s 6-2 capitulation at Hearts coming as the Dark Blues got their league campaign off on the wrong foot at Tynecastle last night.
Mc Pa ke’s side were second best right from the first whistle as Robbie Neilson’s Jambos romped into a 4-1 half-time lead before turning the screw late on. Andy Halliday’s goal in stoppage time ended the scoring to emulate the scoreline of Neilson’s first meeting with Dundee last season as United boss.
The Dens boss said: “We started the game very poor and weren’t at the races.
“We deserved everything we got from that game which was nothing. A really poor performance.
“The last thing we said in the dressing-room was Hearts would come at us and knew that would be the case but we didn’t perform.”
Michael Smith and Josh Ginnelly goals had the Jambos 2- 0 up after 25 minutes before Charlie Adam smashed in a superb strike on 27 minutes.
Swiftly, though, Dundee were further behind with Liam Boyce’s penalty on 34 minutes before Stephen
Kingsley made it 4-1 at the break.
Dundee improved somewhat in the second period and got a goal back through Danny Mullen, but two late strikes from Kingsley and Halliday completed the hammering at Tynecastle.
And McPake is looking for “courage and character” from his side to get back on their feet.
“I can ’t take any positives out of that, none,” McPake added.
“Even the second half – that’s easy to look positive when you are 4-1 down, it doesn’t take courage to do that.
“It will take players with big character for two big home games coming up where we’ll need to be at it or the same thing will happen. We have to show courage and character.”
Adreadful first-half display saw Dundee get their Championship season off to the worst possible start with a 6-2 defeat at rivals Hearts.
The Jambos were 4-1 up at the break with a Charlie Adam wonder goal a sole moment of cheer for the Dees watching from home.
Things improved in the second half, but only slightly as Danny Mullen made it 4-2 on 68 minutes before Stephen Kingsley and Andy Halliday goals sealed the rout late on.
Adam was making his first league start in a Dundee shirt, as did striker Osman Sow and centreback Lee Ashcroft as James McPake set up his side in a 3-5-2 formation.
A hat-trick in midweek didn’t earn former Dee Craig Wighton a start for the home side as he began the game on the bench alongside Steven Naismith and ex-Rangers man Halliday. Former Scotland goalie Craig Gordon was between the sticks for the Jambos.
Hearts began creating opportunities early on and took the lead after just three minutes.
The goal came from a slack pass forward into the Dundee box but the slack defending that followed allowed the goal.
Defender Michael Smith found his way into the area and turned inside Jordon Forster far too easily before rolling the ball under Jack Hamilton for 1-0.
On 19 minutes Hamilton’s poor kick out gifted Hearts the ball but the keeper redeemed himself with a save to stop Liam Boyce.
On 24 minutes it was already 2-0 and again the Dark Blues were slow to respond to the danger.
Sow headed a corner clear but it fell to Josh Ginnelly 25 yards out, who took aim and fired low past the despairing Hamilton.
For a moment, it looked like Adam had woken Dundee out of their stupor two minutes later with a goal out of the top drawer.
Taking the responsibility on to himself, midfielder Adam skipped past three home defenders before smashing an unstoppable drive past Gordon from the edge of the area. It’s already a Goal of the Season contender.
But as good as that was, Dundee’s defending was just as poor.
Just after the half-hour, the ball evaded both Jordan McGhee and Ashcrof t, rolling to Boyce in the middle of goal.
The Northern Irishman took aim but saw his effort b locked by Jordan Marshall.
Unfortunately for the Dundee man the ball hit his arm and a penalty was given and dispatched by Boyce low into the corner.
Ginnelly and Kingsley would then see efforts deflected wide before the Dundee misery of the firsthalf at Tynecastle was compounded with a fourth home goal.
Former Swansea man Kingsley was the scorer, curling a beauty of a freekick into the top corner for 4-1 at the break.
Half-time saw a change in personnel and system from Dee manager James McPake with Celtic loanee Jonathan Afolabi on up front in place of centreback Forster.
On 47 minutes, Adam tried to better his first strike with an effort from halfway but Gordon watched the effort drift wide of his goal.
Just two minutes later the former Liverpool man went for goal again, this time a free- kick curling inches past the post.
Afolabi then tried to make an impact but saw his effort from wide saved low by Gordon before Paul
McGowan found space in the area, only to see his effort on goal blocked.
Another sub, Danny Mullen, was keen to make a difference off the bench also only to see Gordon keep out his deflected longrange effort with a super save.
The former Sunderland and Celtic goalie couldn’t stop Mullen the second time on 68 minutes, however, as the striker pounced on a loose ball after Afolabi’s attempt, chipping the ball over the on-rushing Gordon.
Hearts boss Robbie Neilson tried to shore things up with subs Peter Ha ring and Hal li day coming on in midfield.
Dundee were still pushing, though, and a strong Graham Dorrans run created a chance for McGowan but he got his right-footed effort all wrong and straight at the goalie.
With six minutes left, Hearts ended any lingering hopes for the visitors as Kingsley added his second of the evening with a fine strike into the corner.
And it got even worse in stoppage time as sub Halliday fired a sixth strike beyond Hamilton to cap a woeful night in the capital for McPake’s Dark Blues.
The Dens boss said afterwards he’ll be looking for his side to show “courage and character” after this heavy opening day loss.
He said: “I’m confident we’ve got that.
“I didn’t see that coming, I’ll be honest. As a team defensively, not just the goalkeeper and defenders, we’d looked sound.
“We had done a lot of work on that but it didn’t look like we’d worked on it at all. That’s the concerning thing for me. It’s my job to get that right.”
To add injury to insult, the Dark Blues will be assessing problems picked up by Jordon Forster and Osman Sow in the coming days.
Neilson was naturally delighted with the end result, saying: “We knew this was the Championship opener on TV, against a team who are likely to be among our main rivals, so it was a chance to make an impression – and we did that.”