Dundee 2
Inverness Caledonian Thistle 2
League (Division One)

Match Report

For the second time this season Dundee responded to falling two goals behind against Inverness Caley Thistle by flourishing their "get out of jail" card and mounting a storming come back. Unlike the Challenge Cup Final there was no winning goal this time, but the point that the Dees dramatically snatched today may ultimately prove far more important than that cup win in November.

The only change to the Dundee team was Andrew Shinnie starting, with Marios Klimpl moving onto the bench, where he was joined by long term injury victims Craig McKeown and Andrew Shinnie.

Dundee nearly got off to a flyer when the away defence stopped playing, convinced the ball was going out for a throw. Ben Hutchinson kept the ball in play, cut infield and set up Griffiths whose fierce shot from 12 was brilliantly tipped over the bar by Esson.

Dundee soon started to put some neat passing moves together, with Shinnie and Griffiths prominent Caley Thistle were having difficulty building attacks, with too many long balls sailing harmless through to Rab Douglas.

However, as the half wore on the Dundee attacks became more disjointed, and it was Caley Thistle who came nearest to scoring.

The Dees had a huge escape after 33 minutes when they failed to clear a corner. Odhiambo flashed the ball across the face of the goal to leave Rooney with a simple ve tap lin. He completely miskicked to send the ball back across goal to the surprised Odhiambo who took a fresh. onia air shot and the chance was lost.

Dundee may have been lucky then, but it was the away side's turn to get a break a few minutes later when Hutchinson rolled the ball into the path of Shinnie, who was barged over from behind as he shaped to shoot from 12 yards. Surprisingly the referee waved play on, and the first half petered out without a goal.

Dundee had the best defensive record in the division before today, but in the first 15 minutes of the second half they conceded two goals that would have embarrassed an amateur team. Only a minute after the restart Adam Rooney ran into space down the right and had far too much time to pick out his cross for Richie Foran to score with a simple header at the far post.

Just before the hour Rooney made another run into a vast empty space on the left, nudged the ball past Rab Douglas and squared for Eric Odhiambo to tap in from a couple of yards.

The normally assured Dundee central defenders were looking rattled, and the nervousness spread forward to the rest of the team as the Dees went through their worst spell of the match. Earlier Dundee had been flitting between 4-4-2 and 4-3-3 with Harkins either attacking or dropping back into midfield. When the second goal went in he moved firmly into attack. However, the passing was poor, the service to the strikers was non-existent and the Dee seemed to have little idea how to get back into the game.

Caley Thistle had grown in confidence after scoring and they improved all over the pitch. There seemed no danger of Dundee pulling back a two goal deficit this time, till the match was turned upside down after 78 minutes.

Brian Kerr had been receiving constant barracking from the away fans, and he had the perfect answer when a free kick was cleared to him, nearly 30 yards out. Kerr took a touch and lashed a ferocious swerving shot high into the net.

Caley Thistle were stunned, the home fans were on their feet, singing and shouting, and suddenly every man in dark blue was playing like a man possessed. No-one was more fired up than Brian Kerr, who was magnificent in that last 15 minutes.

Six minutes from the end Gary Harkins picked up the ball wide on the right in front of the South Enclosure just inside the Caley Thistle half. He evaded a couple of challenges as he drove infield. Surprisingly the defenders backed off him, inviting him to shoot, Harkins duly hit a fierce left foot shot from 20 yards, which took a huge deflection and flew into the middle of the goal with Esson already having dived.

The last few minutes were a frantic end to end scramble. By now Dundee had Higgins and McMenamin on the field along with Griffiths and Harkins. Caley Thistle desperately wanted the win to peg Dundee back, but they were too eager to get forward and repeatedly lost possession, allowing Dundee to come flying back at them as they tried to kill off the visitors.

At the end Dundee were clearly happier with the point than Caley Thistle, who must be bitterly disappointed that they couldn't hold onto a two goal lead.

Today's match was turned around by each side's first goal. The first half was tense, with neither side able to play fluently. As soon as Inverness scored their first they settled down and looked likely to win. Once Dundee got their first goal, the momentum was all theirs, and it would have been no surprise if they had got a late winner. However, if Brian Kerr hadn't scored that wonder goal it's hard to see how Dundee would have got a goal.

The midfield was not effective today. Craig Forsyth didn't look comfortable in the middle. Andrew Shinnie showed some fine touches, and ran well with the ball, but there wasn't a good understanding with the players around him. That will come, however.

Kerr and Harkins were outstanding in the last 15 minutes, but we need more of that throughout games. Leigh Griffiths spent the entire match on the wing and was rarely close enough to Ben Hutchinson to link up with him. Sparky continually had to come deep to find the ball, rather than being given the chance to run at the defence from good positions. Too often Dundee sent good balls into the box with no- one in a position to attack them.

Dundee's best spell of the game was when they abandoned caution and just went for it. The team didn't have a good shape and lacked cohesion. The passing was wayward, without the crispness needed to penetrate the defence. The players will have to do better if they are to clinch promotion.

However, the spirit Dundee showed in the last 20 minutes was tremendous, and it was great to see the team pull this one out of the fire. We'll need plenty more of that determination to win this division.

Match report written by James Christie - Official Dundee website