BallochSonsFan Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 Proverbial game of 2 halves. Dundee miles off the pace of the game in the first half but looked a different team in the 2nd. Passing was sharper, movement was better and they punished us. We couldn't get near them. Dundee dominated possession in the 2nd 45 and dictated the game. Opening 45 was a deserved Sons lead. 90 minute result doesn't flatter Dundee in any way. It was lethal from the Dens Park men Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan Vojáček Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 First half, as has been said, we were very decent. Responded perfectly to going a goal down, out passed Dundee and actually played some really good stuff. Definitely deserved to lead at half time. In the second half we conceded immediately, but then held on not too badly until Dundee took the lead. From there on the players looked finished, the defence (Pettigrew especially) were all over the place and it was quite simple for Dundee - especially with the firepower they have.Mark Brown made an absolutely wonderful save to be fair to him, and actually played relatively well (for him, despite chucking in the 1st).It was better than the East Fife game, by far, and perhaps with a bigger squad it might've looked a wee bit more respectable. Although the way the defence fell apart in the last 25 minutes was majorly concerning. All the best to our fellow DFC friends. If you fancy chucking us some handy loan players then that'd be smashing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue_e'hm_A_Dee Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 Well What a difference second half once O Hara and Williams came on, added pace and energy into our team respectively. Stewart is Stewart and if we lose him then we'll feel it immensely IMO still big issues defensively going on that first half display but overall happy tae get the win and see what we're capable of when we turn it on. Ps Yordi got right in about it when he came on, looks a bit raw but got stuck in. Really impressed with Williams though, fantastic skill by the main stand touch line, looks like he's willing to take his man on which is great to see. O Hara really steadied us I thought too, was also looking to run with the ball and done really well in the build up to the 4th goal! Credit to Dumbarton who outplayed us first half and exploited our defensive weaknesses pretty easily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louis Litt Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 Dumbarton are a great bunch of guys and Greg Stewart is the most handsome man on the planet X Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludo*1 Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 O'Hara made a big difference to us when he came on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eindhovendee Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Moonster Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 Aspects of today were atrocious, but on the whole I'm relatively happy. We played well in the first half but Dundee weren't up to much. The 2nd half we didn't play at all and it was blatantly obvious that we had no centre midfielder on the park. Gaz and Todd did what they could in there but fighting a losing battle. Positives for me were Stevo in behind Thommo, he's much better further forward than lying deep and his delivery will be vital for us this year. We fell apart at the back but I think (hope) that when (if) we get a defensive mid signed up we'll be okay. Stirling is a bright wee player, he needs to have a look up before delivering the ball though. Negatives were the defending. Brown should not concede the first and we'd given up by the time the 4th went in which was really disappointing. We've amazingly gone from a team with too many centre defensive mids to a team with none, forced to play two strikers in there. For me though, we aren't too far away I don't think, but these loan signings will be make or break yet again for us. Stewart far and away the best player on the park. Dundee have done well holding onto him and I'm sure he'll have another great season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derry boy Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 Feel for Dumbarton. Dundee didnt turn up what so ever in tje first half and were deservedly losing at half time. Second half was completely one sided, and when we play with pace and purpose were a very good team going forward. Hemmings was never going to miss his 2 chances, Stewart with a trademark goal and good header from O'dea. Second hald performance was very encouraging, ohara was excellent when he came on and Williams looks sharp and skillfull.All the best to Dumbarton, you would have won if dundee didnt turn up second half. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow Play Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 43 minutes ago, BallochSonsFan said: Proverbial game of 2 halves. Dundee miles off the pace of the game in the first half but looked a different team in the 2nd. Passing was sharper, movement was better and they punished us. We couldn't get near them. Dundee dominated possession in the 2nd 45 and dictated the game. Opening 45 was a deserved Sons lead. 90 minute result doesn't flatter Dundee in any way. It was lethal from the Dens Park men A very honest and accurate assessment of the game IMHO. I thought your striker in particular (Thomson I think) was very good. Dundee's link up play second half was superb at times. I thought Jordi showed some good control and a lot of awareness. Will be very interesting to see how he develops this season. Well done in particular to O'Hara, Williams, Hemmings and Stewart today. Still not convinced about Mitchell though. Aside from the football - what was going on with all the seagulls today?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan Vojáček Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 By the way Greg Stewart scores the same goal against us nearly every time he plays us.Cut in on left foot, fake shot, pass another defender, fake shot, pass another, fake shot, stick it into a corner. He did it regularly for Cowden against us as well. I don't think there's many players in this country I'd rather have in our team. He's absolutely fantastic to watch and (with no disrespect intended) I'm shocked he's still playing up here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derry boy Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 By the way Greg Stewart scores the same goal against us nearly every time he plays us.Cut in on left foot, fake shot, pass another defender, fake shot, pass another, fake shot, stick it into a corner. He did it regularly for Cowden against us as well. I don't think there's many players in this country I'd rather have in our team. He's absolutely fantastic to watch and (with no disrespect intended) I'm shocked he's still playing up here. He has games where sometimes he doesn't show but more so than not he does hence his 2 POTY nominations. A joy to watch on his day and even though we know what he is going to do its a different thing all together trying to stop him. 3 goals and 2 assits today in his first game of the season. Our board have already said they would rather keep him and lose him for nothing next year than sell him for nothing now so I doubt very much he will leave this season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rambling syd rumpo Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 Brown's getting some stick for Dundee's first goal, but I've got some sympathy for him. O'Dea couldn't have done more to distract him. The shot was almost straight at Brown but O'Dea threw himself at the ball, right in front of Brown. He just missed it and that made Brown miss too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Master Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 The proverbial game of two halves. We were woeful in the first and Dumbarton deserved their lead, but what a performance in the second. Some sublime stuff at times. Our defence gives me the fear though. Not sure I could watch another season like last where every ball into our box seemed certain to end with a goal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan Vojáček Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 It may seem odd to those who weren't there today, but there was some definite positives to take from that game today. Far more than from the utterly rancid 'performance' we saw on Tuesday night against East Fife. Those of us who have watched the team home and away over the past season will know what I mean when I say that was one of the better away performances under Stevie Aitken. Far too often we don't turn up at all, but today we did, we had a go, we gave them a scare and we got pumped. I'd take that over the miserable 3-0, 4-0 1 half shot on target style that we seemed to prefer last season. Right from the start we looked up for it. Certainly from where I was, and after hearing what happened in the St Johnstone game today, it looked to me like we should have had an early penalty after Berbathom was wrestled to the ground when he went for a high ball. We knocked it about with real panache and confidence at times, Todd was showing some neat touches in a deep role, and looks like he can cross a ball well, whilst wee Andy Stirling was looking pretty lively down the left. Alongside Todd Gaz sat deeper, and this allowed Stevo to push up alongside Thommo. He wasn't a traditional number 10, nor a striker, but seemed to be in a free role behind the striker and ahead of the deep lying mids. He looked good too, his fitness is getting there all the time and he did a power of running. It was no surprise that after he was clattered by O'Dea we began to fall apart as he was the key link between the attackers and the defenders. Imo he should've came off, but he was desperate to stay on and Stevie obviously didn't fancy thrusting Kassarate on unless it was absolutely necessary. Occasionally Stevo and Todd would switch - presumably to give the former a breather - and that fluid movement did seem to puzzle the Dundee defence. Of course, as always happens when we're away from home, or indeed playing well, Dundee took the lead. A ball over the top was left by Mark Brown to Frazer Wright. For some odd reason the big man thought he was suddenly David Luiz and tried to play his way out of trouble before stabbing a pass in the direction of Mark Docherty. Sparky missed the ball, fouled the Dee player and a free-kick near the corner flag at a tight angle was duly awarded. Greg Stewart hit it, and hit it well, but it looked like Mark Brown came flying out to (flap at) punch it, and dived underneath it. I'll see the highlights and then decide, but he looked at fault - for the only time all game to be fair to him. Normally when we go a goal down away from home we move Grant Gallagher upfront and ping long balls in his direction. Luckily for everyone (unless you are of Dundee's blue persuasion) we kept knocking the ball about patiently, before firing balls into the box. It was working well. O'Dea and (particually) Extabeguren were having a torrid time trying to judge the ball in the air, and Thommo was profiting. Deservedly the equaliser arrived soon after, and it was a goal of real beauty (it's in the eye of the beholder, remember?). Stevo's impressive corners were causing havoc, and after Dundee half cleared the ball was fired back into the box. Buchanan nodded it across goal, Thommo fell over and Frazer Wright stumbled into the ball bundling it beyond the grounded David Mitchell. At first it looked as if it hadn't been given - the referee definitely wasn't sure - and I started having flashbacks to Bryan Prunty (Dundee 3-0 Dumbarton December 2013), but his linesman was, and correctly it was given. Then it was 2-1, again it came from a Stevenson corner, again I don't think the referee saw the first, again I had flashbacks to the 2013 game and again a centre-back got the credit. This time Thommo floated in ahead of Mitchell and cannoned a header off the underside of the bar and - I'm 98% sure and had a wonderful view of it - over the line. Again all eyes were on the ref (as I celebrated), he did nothing and Gregor Buchanan slammed the ball into the bottom corner just to make sure. The highlights shall be studied. But I'm sure it was over. Anyway, we were then winning an away game. Unusual feeling. We were also controlling it. Very unusual feeling. And we were leading at Dens Park. Unheard of feeling (certainly in my 19 years). Incredibly that was the first time we'd lead an away game at half-time since August last year (St Mirren 1-2 Dumbarton), and the first time we'd scored two first half goals away from the Rock since Stevie's first match in charge (Morton 2-3 Dumbarton, July 2015). I was pretty sure it would be short lived however, Not pessimism, but realism. As both teams substitutes warmed up it was evident they'd play a bit part. I was just delighted we weren't as horrific as we were against East Fife though! Naturally my realism was correct. Dundee equalised almost immediately after the break and I feared for us. Impressively, despite dropping deeper and losing a bit of cutting edge up top, we actually hung on fairly well. Mark Brown made a few good saves, and one truly superb double block that you really need to see on the highlights. He looked like a different man to then one we so often see looking utterly lost and terrified. Then Stevo got injured, Dundee made a few subs and everything turned to mush. Ironically it was the Stevo injurer Darren O'Dea who stuck them infront. It wasn't a free-kick in the build up, but we didn't defend it well and he leapt to head the ball beautifully into the top corner. That, along with the introduction of the very impressive Mark O'Hara and lively Danny Williams, seemed to flatten our players. They had been running on adrenaline after a tough week, and with no substitutes Aitken was prepared to use, it suddenly looked like a case of how many Dundee fancied. Greg Stewart will get the plaudits - and perhaps rightly so too - but the introduction of O'Hara really changed the game. He was big, strong, powerful, aggressive, direct and charged about the pitch desperate to grab the game and throttle it beneath his massive hands. Credit to Paul Hartley for the change, as he was excellent. Pettigrew stood out as the weak link in the defence, and was subject to a pretty relentless roasting by Stewart, Hemmings, Williams, O'Hara and Yordi Teijsse when he came on. It was a wee bit concerning how out of his depth he looked, especially given a shaky midweek performance, but he did look to be limping so hopefully it's just fatigue and a knock. Sparky was getting caught out a bit on the other side, and both wingers looked utterly spent trying to track back. Kassarate came on and got a shock with the physicality of it I think. He did go on a good run in the last minute, but that was really all we saw of him. To tell the truth once they had 6, and Stewart a hat-trick, Dundee eased off. The final whistle couldn't come soon enough to avoid brackets, which fortunately we did. For any fans not there today it will look like another woeful away day, but hopefully I've reassured you that there are positives. A few quality additions to the squad would allow us to rest players, and use our bench as it was the lack of squad depth that killed us today. The Peterhead game will likely be meaningless for both sides, hopefully then we can give the new lads (assuming they are in by then) a run out, along with a few fringe players and keep the big hitters fit for the Pars game in August. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweet Pete Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 Glad to see O'Hara making an impact for Dundee. Where did he play when he came on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daydream Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 Glad to see O'Hara making an impact for Dundee. Where did he play when he came on? A roaming midfielder, is how I'd describe it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludo*1 Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 If O'Hara can have an impact on our squad in general like he did today then we've got our next star. Killie will have made a massive mistake letting him go. He was the difference between 1-2 Dumbarton and 6-2 Dundee. He just absolutely smothered the midfield when he came on and allowed the likes of Stewart and Hemmings do what they do best instead of having to come deep and struggle. Can't judge on one game, but he has the potential (And I don't expect him to do it 100% of the time as he's still young) to be that missing juggernaut in our midfield. Was also mightily impressed with Yordi. I reckon he might struggle for goals but he certainly brought a presence that Dumbarton struggled to deal with and he's not your typical strong, haddy either. Wasn't too impressed with Duffy tbf but we were just abysmal in general in the first half. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan Vojáček Posted July 24, 2016 Share Posted July 24, 2016 A few things from the highlights, firstly although Mark Brown made a mess of it, why was Darren O'Dea completely free about 4 yards out for the first goal? I was pretty sure Thommo's header was over at the time, and it looks that way in the highlights too, although it's impossible to tell for sure. Frazer Wright's goal was as fantastic as I remember it, and the Dundee fan calling for Hartley's head after the 2nd goes in He's utterly fizzing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aftershocker Posted July 24, 2016 Share Posted July 24, 2016 I actually thought hemmings was offside for Dundee's 2nd and never in a million years was it a free kick for their 3rdThat said, their passing in the 2nd half was excellent and we simply couldn't live with them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Moonster Posted July 24, 2016 Share Posted July 24, 2016 The free kick given for Dundee's third is laughable, the ref is right in front of it too. Not as laughable as us failing to mark O'Dea again though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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