Day Twenty: Dundee (Dens Park)

Dundee v Partick Thistle

Scottish Division 1

Saturday 6th November

Driving down to meet my dad I realise I'm running a little late when he phones me to check I'm actually up and on my way. Still we leave Edinburgh just before 1pm so we should have plenty of time to get to Dundee.

We'd originally planned to go to Dens Park later in the season but seeing as how they've gone in to administration for the second time in seven years and are about £300,000 in debt we've moved the visit forward just in case they don't make it that far.

We drive up to the ground just before 2pm, it takes a while to find a parking space but we're walking over to the ground shortly after. We take a quick detour to the club shop so my dad can continue the tradition of buying a pin badge from all the teams in the lower divisions, and to help out with the crippling debt at the club. Whilst we are in there we buy a programme and are given two huge red cards free of charge. The significance of these will be explained later.

We decide to sit in the main stand in the hope that it may be a bit warmer than any of the other three stands, which are a bit more open to the bitter cold. My dad and I went in through two different turnstiles and found out that we didn't come out together on the other side, we did however meet up at the top of the stairs and after finding our seats in the stand my dad went off for the pre-match pies. It was decided that due to it's crunchy pastry, meaty content and temperature that a 7.5 out of 10 score should be given.

As the stadium fills up it's clear to see that the Dundee fans have come out in their thousands to show their support for their team, although we can't help think that if they turned out like this every week Dundee probably wouldn't be in the trouble they find themselves. As the teams run out the tannoy announcer asks us all to show our displeasure towards the SFL bigwigs who this week handed out a 25 point deduction to the club for going into administration.

This may seem controversial but I believe that Dundee desrve to be hit with a fine and a point deduction, I mean this is the second time in just seven years that they've found themselves in this situation. It would be unfair on the rest of the teams in this division if they were simply allowed to get away with it - as my dad said though it's not something I going to shout about at this moment in time.

The game kicks off and Dundee are straight on the attack but a header on goal is easily saved by the Partick Thistle keeper. Prior to the game when the teams were read out the Partick keeper was named simply as 'trialist', turns out it's Scott Fox; who up until Dundee found themselves in trouble was the goalie here at Dens. With the predicament Dundee now find themselves in, Fox was one of those players that was let go.

Three minutes in and some great work in the box by Dundee's Irvine, who controlled the ball on his chest and overhead kicked the ball across goal, his cross was met at the back post by O'Donnell but his shot went just wide.

The home fans are quick to welcome the Partick Thistle manager Iain McCall back to Dundee with a nice chant - You're a wee fat bastard Iain McCall and follow it up with a rendetion of You'll never see your tolley Iain McCall. All this hatred simply because he used to manage their local rivals Dundee United.

Ten minutes in and a shot Harkins goes close for the home side when his half volley scraped the outside of the post. After Partick's first cross into the box is comfortably saved by Rab Douglas, he throws a long ball out to Nicky Riley who skipped past two challenges and played the ball to Leigh Griffiths. Griffiths took one touch to control the ball and rifled a screamer past Fox from easily 35 yards out. It was a belter of a goal, one of the best we've seen so far and Dens Park went mental.

Lockwood then smashed in another long range effort and although the keeper dropped it he was the first to the rebound to prevent his side going two behind.

It was a full twenty minutes before Partick really tested the home defence but Hardie's header was tipped over for a corner. From this Douglas dropped the ball under pressure and must have been releaved to see Doolan fail to take advantage and smash the ball over the top.

Partick Thistle were forced in to two substitutions due to injury in the first twenty-five minutes. Things could have been much worse moments later when Kinniburgh was lucky not to see red for trying to pull down Griffiths when he was the last defender. Referee Charlie Richmond let the advantage be played before pulling the game back and awarding a free kick. Some referee's would simply have blown up after the offence and both my dad and I agreed the Thistle defender was mighty fortunate not to be sent off.

From the resulting free kick on the edge of the box Sean Higgins saw his shot beat both the wall and the keeper but unfortunetly for him it went the wrong side of the post. This was the final action of the first half.

During the half time break we were treated to the stadium announcer thanking a succesion of supporters for their money making schemes to help pull Dundee out of the mire, a passionate speech by Stuart Murphy - who sits on the Dundee Board as the Fans representative - who complained bitterly about his sides treatment by the SFL and then four Dundee Legends were introduced to the crowd. I didn't catch all their names but the home fans greeted them as legends should be greeted.

The Partick Thistle fans on the other hand booed throughout all of the above.

Iain McCall must have given his side the full hair dryer treatment at half time as they started the second half much much stronger than there poor perfomance in the first. It was however scrappy for the first ten minutes or so as the nerves were beginning to show amongst the Dundee players, who must be awre they can't afford to drop any points.

The equaliser came just before the hour mark when a long ball over the top of the Dundee defence was chased down by Buchanan and he won a corner for his persistence. The Dundee defender Weston was raging at his fellow defenders for their failure to track back and clear the ball.

The corner wasn't cleared properly and fell to Brian Hodge on the each of the box and he did really well to keep his shot down and power it through the sea of bodies of front of him and in to the bottom corner.

Partick then sat back and were happy to try and hit Dundee on the break but this only allowed the home team to pile on the pressure and they crowd tried to play their part by singing non-stop. The referee was being kept busy as he made Partick's Paton the fifth player to be shown a yellow card.

Dundee's Irvine very nearly put his side back in front with a smashing effort from twenty five yards that Fox did brilliantly well to get down and tip past he post. The linesman then did something I didn't catch that annoyed the home fans and bench, so much so that the the referee had to come over and give Dundee manger Barry Smith a long talking too.

With five minutes to go 38 year old Rab Douglas made an amazing one handed save to tip a Boyle shot over the bar.

It looked like it was going to end one each but with five minutes to go a Lockwood shot on target was deflected into the net by on-loan player Jamie Adams and the place erupted. Honestly the noise was deafening and it was as if Dundee had won the league.

There was still time however for Douglas to make a world class save in the final minutes when he plucked a Kinniburgh header out of the top corner with a one handed save. Surely now Dundee would hold on for all three points. After what seemed like an age he blow the final whistle at 4.55pm and the home fans celebrated.

The home team walked off the pitch to David Bowie's song Heroes and they desrved such recognition as they all played for the colours today. Partick Thistle may feel a little disappointed to lose a goal in the final moments but Dundee were the better side throughout. It's along way back from -12 points but with performances like this the home fans can at least hope that they may catch Partick who are joint second bottom of the league with Striling and Morton on plus 12 points.

The Statistics

Ticket: Adult £19, Concession £10

Programme: £2.50

Attendance: 6022

Pie: £1.40

Pie Marks: 7.5/10

Man of the Match: Dad - Robert Douglas (Dundee) Me - Leigh Griffiths (Dundee)

Final Score: Dundee 2 v Partick Thistle 1

Mileage: 117 miles

Fascinating Fact of the Day: Dundee & Dundee United have the two closest stadiums anywhere in the world in professional football.

Next Game: Hampden Stadium (Queen's Park)