If you have a form problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, then maybe you can play the Dee-team!
Kilmarnock were winless in the league prior to their visit to Dens Park. We must be the best team in the world to play against when other sides are on dreadful runs of form.
Supporting Dundee often has me witnessing the spectacle of a team snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. This is another one of those times.
A worrying trend in Tony Docherty’s era has been our inability to hold a lead. We lost the most points from winning positions last season – 28 in total. Twelve of those came from early leads at Ibrox and three games against Kilmarnock, where we twice ended up scoring last-minute equalisers.
Unfortunately, the main talking point of last Saturday’s match comes with referee Grant Irvine in the spotlight.
The Dens Park faithful, along with pundits, were shocked when Mo Sylla was sent off for a challenge on Matty Kennedy that arguably shouldn’t even have been called a foul.
Irvine also officiated our defeat to Ross County, which led to referees’ chief Willie Collum personally calling Docherty to apologise for the failure to award Dundee a “stonewall” penalty. I don’t want to portray him as a moustache-twirling villain, but these poor calls of judgment are costing us points.
With 11 men, we could have won the game. I can’t excuse the fact we conceded three goals in the final seven minutes, but I was expecting us to eventually suffer from tired legs. Even then, Dundee should have managed the game’s conclusion much better.
Aside from his goal, I felt this was Ziyad Larkeche’s best game for the club so far. He and fellow Frenchman Billy Koumetio were immense for 85 minutes, but unfortunately, something had to give.
Oluwaseun Adewumi’s goal for us was a moment of magic. He was falling down as he took the strike, with a defender goal side the entire time, and still executed a finish of the highest calibre. It deserved to count for something.
Overall, I’m left seething about the result. Red flags are present, but the performance did offer some encouragement. I’ve seen how teams play when they’re truly in trouble, and we’re not there yet.
The international break comes at a good time for the team to regroup and reset. This league is so tight that it only takes one or two positive results to shoot back up the table.