Dundee 0
St Johnstone 1
League (Premier League)
DundeeDundee |
0 - 10 - 1 |
St JohnstoneSt Johnstone |
 |
League (Premier League) |
 |
| Goalscorers | |
| None. | Roddy Grant (6) |
| Team Managers | |
|
Jocky Scott |
Paul Strurrock |
| Starting Eleven | |
|
1. Robert Douglas 14. Lee Maddison 6. Robbie Raeside 3. Dave Rogers 2. Barry Smith 35. Steven Tweed 4. Dariusz Adamczuk 21. Shaun McSkimming 18. Gavin Strachan 16. Willie Falconer 10. James Grady |
Alan Main .1 John McQuillan .2 Darren Dods .24 Alan Kernaghan .6 Gary Bollan .15 John O'Neil .8 Paul Kane .11 Nick Dasovic .4 Phillip Scott .7 Roddy Grant .8 Nathan Lowndes .28 |
| Bench | |
|
40. Jamie Langfield 7. Iain Anderson 25. Gavin Rae 9. Eddie Annand 20. Tommy Coyne |
Danny Griffin .16 Allan Ferguson .22 Miguel Simao .29 John Paul McBride .20 Keith O'Halloran .17 |
| Substitutions | |
|
Iain Anderson for Steven Tweed (60) Eddie Annand for Dave Rogers (66) Tommy Coyne for Shaun McSkimming (87) |
Keith O'Halloran for O'Neil (46) Simao for Lowndes (81) McBride for Scott (90) |
| Cautions | |
|
Dariusz Adamczuk Robbie Raeside |
Keith O'Halloran |
| Red Cards | |
| None. | None. |
| Match Officials | |
|
Kevin Toner (Referee) |
Match Report
It may have been an encouraging day off the field for crisis-hit Dundee, but on the pitch Saints took the honours and move into third place in the Premier League.
place in the Premier League. Dark Blues owner Peter Marr, desperately trying to find £1.2 million to build the required new stands at Dens Park, had asked for a big turn-out to prove his club had a future at the top end of the game.
A crowd of over 7000 will have convinced him and a few others that can indeed be the case, but it was also clear that plenty of work needs to be done to the team as well as the stadium.
This was no classic encounter but, from start to finish, the Perth men showed more composure than their Tayside rivals.
As early as the first minute they could have taken the lead. In-form midfielder Philip Scott was sent clear by Paul Kane, but lobbed the ball over home keeper Robert Douglas's bar
when a goal looked on. That was a great disappointment for the visitors, but it set the tone for the first half, which was to be dominated by them.
Indeed, it took Sandy Clark's side only a further five minutes to score what proved to be the winner.
It came after a fine passing move which ended with veteran striker Roddy Grant calmly beating Douglas with an angled drive from 12 yards.
Between then and the interval, the only real disappointment for the visitors was that they didn't add to their advantage. Backed by a strong wind, they spent most of the half bearing down on the Dundee goal, but could not create Fouls 18 enough clear-cut scoring opportunities.
When they did, from a John O'Nell corner, they were denied by a Barry Smith header off the line after Darren Dods had steered the ball on target.
After the interval, with the wind at their backs, Dundee rallied, but were never able to trouble the Perth defence. Indeed, when they did go close, it was because of an error by keeper Alan Main. The keeper miscued a punch from a McSkimming corner, and was relieved to see the ball bounce off his
bar and go behind. Impressive young striker Nathan Lowndes almost grabbed a second when he rounded Douglas late on, but couldn't find the target from a tight angle.
And, right at the end, the Dundee keeper had to make a good save from substitute Keith O'Halloran.
St Johnstone perhaps weren't firing on all cylinders, but it was another solid performance.
Match report written by The Sunday Post
Squad Statistics (as at February 27th, 1999)
| 1998-99 | All Time | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age | Nat |  |
 |
|
|
|
| Robert Douglas (GK) | 26 |
|
27 | - | 71 | - |
| Lee Maddison | 26 |
|
12 | - | 41 | 2 |
| Robbie Raeside | 26 |
|
19 | - | 77 | 6 |
| Dave Rogers | 23 |
|
11 | - | 51 | 1 |
| Barry Smith | 25 |
|
26 | - | 133 | 1 |
| Steven Tweed | 26 |
|
10 | 1 | 10 | 1 |
| Dariusz Adamczuk | 29 |
|
25 | 6 | 129 | 9 |
| Shaun McSkimming | 28 |
|
23 | 1 | 54 | 4 |
| Gavin Strachan | 20 |
|
5 | - | 5 | - |
| Willie Falconer | 32 |
|
26 | 2 | 26 | 2 |
| James Grady | 27 |
|
19 | 1 | 63 | 19 |
| Iain Anderson (sub) | 21 |
|
20 | - | 144 | 17 |
| Eddie Annand (sub) | 25 |
|
24 | 8 | 71 | 24 |
| Tommy Coyne (sub) | 36 |
|
14 | - | 124 | 60 |
League Table (as at February 27th, 1999)
No league table has been added for this season.
Manager's Programme Notes
Losing as heavily as we did last week against Rangers obviously came as a bitter disappointment, particularly as for half the game we played reasonably well, containing
them to just a handful of chances. However, the loss of two bad goals put us under pressure and as soon as the third one went in we started chasing the game and against the Old Firm, as we found to our cost, you can't afford to do that.
Our last home match with Motherwell saw us gain a hugely important victory. Not only did it keep us in touch with Motherwell themselves, but it also widened the gap between us and the bottom club which is vitally important at this stage of the season.
Making victory particularly satisfying was that Motherwell came into the game in confident mood on the back of a good run of form whilst we had all those flu problems for most of the week which hampered our preparations.
Starting with St Johnstone this afternoon we enter at very important three games. If we can get the right results from these forthcoming fixtures, they could go a long way to consolidating our position in the Premier Division. To achieve that we must ensure that we get. back to making it difficult for teams to score against us as well as being that bit more adventurous in attack.
Hopefully the acquisition of Steven Boyack from Rangers at the start of the week will help us in that regard as he gives us another option in the attacking areas at this important stage of the season. His signing also underlines our ambition at a time when there has been so much talk surrounding the future of the club.
Our visitors this afternoon, St Johnstone are going very well this season on two fronts.
Already safe from relegation, they are actively pursuing a European place and after reaching the League Cup final they are now looking to do the same in the Scottish Cup.
From those credentials, it doesn't need me to remind everyone that they are a very good side, so obviously they present at very, very difficult hurdle as we seek to record a first win of the season over them.