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Published: 1st February 2022
The first midweek Dundee Derby in over four years offered a mouth-watering commencement to February on Tayside. The hosts came into the game as the underdogs based on the form guide, having picked up just one point out of their last seven Premiership matches.
Tam Courts made four changes to the side that conceded in stoppage time at Parkhead, the back three in particular receiving a substantial shift as Ryan Edwards returned from parenting duties after the birth of his daughter and Academy graduate Ross Graham made his maiden start for the first-team.
Marc McNulty combined effectively with Tony Watt in the Dundee box to carve out the first half-chance after five minutes, finding space to flash the ball across the six-yard line, unfortunately no takers in a tangerine shirt.
The game suffered countless niggly fouls which reduced the flow of play, John Beaton’s whistle irritating both sets of fans as the match descended into a stop-start midfield battle.
Dundee perhaps began to look more likely to open the scoring, threatening from set-pieces which were delivered by the left-foot of Charlie Adam.
Edwards was forced to intervene on the 15th minute following powerful running down the line by Dundee new boy Vontae Daley-Campbell, the ball eventually landing at the feet of ex-United man Paul McMullan who struck his effort into the body of Edwards.
Watt then escaped the clutches of Daley-Campbell at the other end and delivered a low cross into the area, Kieran Freeman arriving on the scene to slam the ball into Cammy Kerr with a goal-bound strike. Merely 60 seconds later, Watt sent a dipping strike whistling over the bar from 30 yards.
McMullan continued to take up positive positions and cause United problems, first plucking Max Anderson’s pass down exquisitely but failing to pull the trigger in time before Calum Butcher marshalled the ball behind, and then forcing Benji Siegrist into a fabulous, acrobatic save with his glancing header after meeting Niall McGinn’s cross at the front-post.
Soon after, Adam curled the ball deep into the visitors' area, with a combination of Edwards and Butcher somehow managing to scramble the ball clear only as far as Anderson whose awkward follow-up drifted harmlessly wide.
It took almost ten minutes for the first action of note after the restart, McMullan volleying the ball straight at Siegrist from the edge of the box after a long throw from Kerr was half-cleared by the United defence.
United still couldn’t get a foothold in the game despite being repeatedly gifted possession by their opponents, with a severe lack of urgency permeating throughout the team – passes often going square or backwards due to a lack of progressive options.
Adam eventually had a strike for goal which was easily blocked by Edwards before being booked and then hooked immediately after.
The match began to come to life as it entered the final 20 minutes. Dylan Levitt’s front-post corner was met by Edwards who flicked the ball narrowly over the bar, then the Scouser saved his side when he cleared Zak Rudden’s dink beyond Siegrist off the line less than a minute later. From the resultant corner, Liam Fontaine managed to keep it alive, with the ball falling perfectly to Rudden, but this time it was Nicky Clark who was on hand to whisk his effort to safety.
The tempo was majorly increased by United towards the final whistle, Dundee now firmly camped inside their own penalty area, aside from a couple of half-hearted counter-attacks. Crosses began to hail into the box, most of which were cleared by Ryan Sweeney or Fontaine at the heart of the defence after they were allowed time to organise.
Courts’ side had two golden opportunities to take the three points back to Tannadice, almost carbon copies of each other. Substitute Ilmari Niskanen made a dynamic, darting run in behind Jordan McGhee, receiving a perfectly weighted through ball from Ian Harkes behind the defence. The Finn drove towards goal but couldn’t pick out a tangerine shirt with his fierce cut-back. Two minutes later, Watt fired an identical cross into the middle, the ball this time landing at the feet of Clark who controlled and then smashed his shot into the visiting support from point-blank range under intense pressure from Adam Legzdins and Sweeney.
A Derby that will quickly be forgotten by both sets of supporters as a poor spectacle, both sides with the chances to win it but a draw perhaps a fair result and reflection of an anti-climatic clash at Dens.
