Game of two halves – and both were rank!
IT is widely acknowledged that football games last 90 minutes.
Unfortunately, nobody seems to have told Motherwell or Dundee.
For the first 45 minutes of yesterday’s clash, the ‘Well were absolutely dominant. Dundee, on the other hand, were dormant. The second half was the polar opposite, with the Dark Blues rampant against their suddenly comatose hosts. It could have been a classic. Instead, thanks to both teams’ toothlessness, it was tedious beyond belief.
Both goalkeepers enjoyed far quieter afternoons than they should have, with each being forced into only one save.
Yet Dundee boss Paul Hartley last night insisted it was a battle his side deserved to win.
He said: “I thought we were good second half. We had some really good situations but we just needed that bit of quality and that cutting edge.
“I was really pleased with how we performed and with the clean sheet as we don’t get that many clean sheets.
“I thought we did enough to win the game, especially with our second half performance.
“We were on the front foot and had some really good situations where we should have done better in the final third.
“Faissal El Bakhtaoui and Mark O’Hara were a threat and I was really pleased with that.
“We need to do better in the final third and start taking our chances and if we do that I think we will be fine.”
Hartley’s Dundee are a side that frequently confound expectations.
One week they can look like world beaters, the next more like a team of panel beaters.