Dundee 4
Motherwell 1
League (Premier Division)

Manager's Programme Notes

Our most recent 56 Saturday performan ces have been less than satisfactory. The first of these, at home to Aberdeen, saw us outplay the Dons for long spells in the first half, and after missing several chances, we went ahead, but only led 1-0 at the interval. This proved not to be enough, as, against a strong blustery wind, we lost the initiative, and were put under strong pressure in the second period.

In the end, Aberdeen equalised, and had another "goal" disallowed, but the fact remains that teams must be beaten when we are on top, and this was an example of a game where we didn't score sufficient goals in the first half, and we paid the penalty later. It didn't help matters that the goal which we did concede was a silly one to lose.

The Scottish Cup semi-final at Tynecastle proved loosely similar, in that we led at the interval, and were later overhauled. The result was very disappointing, especially as we had, in that first half, come back from an early United goal to equalise, and then take the lead ourselves. Having held that lead until the interval, I had felt that we should go on to win the match, but we eventually lost out to a side which has greater experience of the big occasions, and who, on the day, had a goalkeeper in exceptional form.

It cannot be said that we lost through lack of commitment, as the players gave their all, and in this game the United keeper made out- of-this-world saves. There were three occasions, other than the two goals which we scored, where another keeper might have been beaten.

There was an early shot by Rab Shannon, and then, late in the game, two well placed free-kicks by John Brown, both of which would have curled in at the post. The first, to Thomson's right, turned sharply, and would have just made it inside the post. The second was struck to the other side of goal, but was again just inside the post. On both occasions, Thomson turned the ball wide at full stretch, and the match was lost.

The crowd at Tynecastle was also disappointing-13,913-but much as we had previously predicted. My thanks to all Dark Blues fans who made the effort to travel and cheer us on. I am only sorry that you didn't see another result.

Looking forward to the rest of the season, our objective now is to en sure that our League position is maintained. We must go for maximum points from our remaining games, and we must not under estimate today's opponents Motherwell. They already left Dens Park with a point on their last visit, so we must do better this time out.