Dundee 0
Dunfermline Athletic 1
League (Premier League)
DundeeDundee |
0 - 10 - 1 |
DunfermlineDunfermline |
 |
League (Premier League) |
 |
| Goalscorers | |
| None. | Noel Hunt (32) |
| Team Managers | |
|
Jim Duffy |
Jimmy Calderwood |
| Starting Eleven | |
|
1. Julian Speroni 16. Jonay Hernández 4. Tom Hutchinson 3. David Mackay 19. Lee Mair 2. Barry Smith 24. Neil Barrett 26. Garry Brady 5. Sebastian Kneissl 25. Steve Lovell 17. Nacho Novo |
Derek Stillie .20 Scott Wilson .3 Andrius Skerla .5 Richie Byrne .18 Greg Shields .15 Gary Dempsey .12 Barry Nicholson .7 Scott Thomson .6 Darren Young .4 Noel Hunt .14 Stevie Crawford .9 |
| Bench | |
|
22. Derek Soutar 27. Callum MacDonald 30. Mark Fotheringham 21. Steven Robb 15. Steven Milne |
Marco Ruitenbeek .1 Billy Mehmet .31 Aaron Labonte . Derek Young .11 Andy Tod .32 |
| Substitutions | |
|
Mark Fotheringham for Neil Barrett (58) Steven Milne for Sebastian Kneissl (68) Steven Robb for Tom Hutchinson (80) |
Aaron Labonte for Richie Byrne (63) Derek Young for Gary Dempsey (75) Andy Tod for Noel Hunt (88) |
| Cautions | |
|
Nacho Novo (54) Steve Lovell (57) |
Richie Byrne (57) |
| Red Cards | |
| None. | None. |
| Match Officials | |
|
Stuart Dougal (Referee) |
Match Report
Dunfermline headed home with all three points and for a change in this fixture they actually merited their victory. The Fife side dominated the first half of a poor match anººd, despite a much improved Dundee performance after the interval, the Pars were still the better side over the ninety minutes.
Jim Duffy restored Barry Smith and Steve Lovell to the starting eleven, with Mark Fotheringham and Seven Milne dropping to the bench, the former being a pre-match doubt with a poisoned toe.
However, it was only after his arrival on the field after 58 minutes that Dundee began to look as if they could create anything.
The early stages saw the visitors settle quickly and they made Speroni work with a couple of long-range efforts. Dundee were relying far too much on the long ball, hoping to capitalise on the pace of Novo and Lovell, it was a ploy which never looked likely to work and simply gifted possession to Jimmy Calderwood's men.
Despite their dominance, they too struggled to create chances, but on the half hour mark, a quickly taken free kick led to a move which ended with Hunt turning Hutchinson and hitting the ball home for what would prove to be the only goal of the game.
Right on the break, a Brady cross following a short corner caused mayhem in the visitors penalty area, but when the chance arrived it fell to Dave Mackay and the defender couldn't get a clean shot in.
The half time riot act speech from Duffy got the pace of Dundee's play up a bit, but it was still desperate stuff and just before the hour the manager sent on Fotheringham for Barrett and the former Celtic man began to run proceedings.
His corner in 65 minutes provided the best chance of an equaliser and although there was nothing wrong with Mair's header which was heading to the bottom corner of the net, Young was on the line to clear.
Dunfermline had the chance to sew up the points five minutes later, but Crawford's effort from Thomson's clipped pass was woefully off target from only six yards out.
Nacho Novo had came to life a bit following Fotheringham's arrival and with ten minutes to go he played a 1-2 with Brady to rattle in a le left foot shot which Stillie was fortunate to block with his body, the ball rebounding inches away from the inrushing Spaniard and the final real chance had gone.
Match report written by Dundee Matchday Programme
Squad Statistics (as at February 14th, 2004)
| 2003-04 | All Time | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age | Nat |  |
 |
|
|
|
| Julian Speroni (GK) | 24 |
|
33 | - | 100 | - |
| Jonay Hernández | 24 |
|
27 | - | 64 | 1 |
| Tom Hutchinson | 21 |
|
10 | 1 | 23 | 1 |
| David Mackay | 22 |
|
31 | - | 92 | 2 |
| Lee Mair | 23 |
|
31 | 1 | 65 | 2 |
| Barry Smith | 29 |
|
33 | 2 | 343 | 4 |
| Neil Barrett | 22 |
|
5 | 1 | 5 | 1 |
| Garry Brady | 27 |
|
30 | - | 63 | 1 |
| Sebastian Kneissl | - |
|
2 | - | 2 | - |
| Steve Lovell | 23 |
|
17 | 2 | 52 | 17 |
| Nacho Novo | 24 |
|
33 | 20 | 76 | 29 |
| Mark Fotheringham (sub) | 20 |
|
18 | 3 | 18 | 3 |
| Steven Robb (sub) | 21 |
|
8 | 1 | 20 | 1 |
| Steven Milne (sub) | 23 |
|
8 | - | 103 | 17 |
League Table (as at February 14th, 2004)
No league table has been added for this season.
Manager's Programme Notes
Since the last programme, we have certainly had a very mixed bag of results and performances. Undoubtedly, the most positive aspect of the past four games was winning the derby.
It was a major game in which we produced a major performance, and most importantly given that it was a derby, got the desired result.
Especially as the manner in which it was achieved was very pleasing, and even although we had to come from behind, I thought we were worth our win, a fact which was acknowledged by United's management team.
From there, it was on to Easter Road for a very difficult game against a young and highly talented Hibs side on a very heavy surface.
That we came home with a point was thanks to a gritty and spirited performance, which I felt merited the draw.
Having said that, it was a silly mistake that allowed Hibs their equaliser. That game. I thought, set us up nicely for the CIS Cup semi with Livingston when we returned to Easter Road three days later.
Yet with the tie seemingly destined for extra-time, we switched off for a split second, to concede the last minute penalty from which Livingston scored their winner.
Whilst it was a harsh award, we should never have allowed ourselves to get into the situation whereby there should have been any question of giving away a penalty.
So it is very disappointing that we don't have a final to look forward to next month.
That was bad enough, but the catalogue of mistakes that we made last Wednesday at Fir Park was almost unbelievable. Whilst you will always get the odd individual error, against Motherwell the whole defence took it in turn to make mistakes and was culpable for all five of their goals.
If that was very disappointing, then the upside was the fact that we scored three goals.
But when you score that many away from home, you have every right to expect to win a match.
Unfortunately, the defence chose Wednesday to be at their collective worst and we could have no complaint about losing!
Clearly, we cannot afford a repeat of that generosity against a Dunfermline side whose movement up front has caused us problems in the past.
However, provided that we are far more solid and concentrate much more at the back, as well as maintaining the same thrust in attack as was in evidence against Motherwell, in the two home games coming up, then we can get the results to take a big step to getting to the position where we want to be.