Hamilton Academical 1
Dundee 6
League (First Division)

Match Report

Wow! Outstanding! How good was that for the travelling Dees?

Dundee thrashed a poor Hamilton side 6-1 at New Douglas Park today, with a clinically professional display.

Dundee have maybe played better football at times this season, but today's performance was a great example of how to put struggling opponents to the sword.

The Dee were solid in defence, dominant in midfield and utterly ruthless in attack. Man of the match Steven Milne took the headlines with an excellent hat-trick, but the whole Dundee team deserves the plaudits for the way they went about this demolition job.

There were hints of what was to come in the early stages as Dundee held possession calmly and stretched the Accies' defence with Riley looking ever dangerous.

The opening goal after 21 minutes owed little to good football and everything to a goal-keeping clanger. Ryan Conroy aimed a free kick to the far post where Neil McGregor challenged with David Hutton. The keeper seemed to have taken the ball but dropped it, leaving MILNE with a simple finish.

Dundee stepped up their game and the home fans started to get on their players' backs. The Dee were spraying the ball around confidently while Accies were nervously miss-hitting their passes and giving the ball away.

The first goal may have been scrappy but goal number two was a thing of beauty! Gary Irvine played a long pass through the middle for MILNE who flicked the ball over McLaughlin and sent an exquisite lob over Hutton and under the bar from just outside the penalty area.

The Dundee fans were on their feet and roaring now, and had to wait only two minutes for another excellent goal.

Gavin Rae held up the ball in the penalty area and laid it off for O'DONNELL to surge past the last man and hammer the ball into the roof of the net from 12 yards.

This was too much for some of the Accies fans who headed for the exits, fearing that this was an afternoon that was going to get only worse for their team. They were right!

Hamilton must have been desperate to get an early goal after half time to give themselves a glimmer of hope, but the Dee were having none of that. They were attacking the end with the noisy and jubilant away fans and took only three minutes of the second half to grab the goal that sandbagged the home side and made it crystal clear that this was going to be Dundee's day.

Nicky Riley broke down the right and his dangerous cross was half cleared by McLaughlin as far as Hyde, who hammered the ball back into the goalmouth where MILNE coolly back-heeled it past Hutton to finish his hat trick.

Hamilton were demoralised and disorganised and Dundee eased off for a spell. The home fans were turning furiously on their manager, Billy Reid, and the dark blue support was crowing with delight.

Any hope that Hamilton had that Dundee might coast till the end of the game vanished when Callum Elliot was thrown into action. He was determined to get the play flowing back towards the home goal and Dundee were soon battering at the home defence, greedy for more goals.

How many times this season has Steven Milne harried a defender into losing the ball? Twenty minutes from the end he did it again. He robbed McLaughlin, and with dark blue shirts pouring into the penalty area he chose the right option to send RILEY through to calmly score the fifth, clipping the ball over the diving keeper.

Hamilton tried pushing forward, but with little hope or creativity, and looked constantly vulnerable whenever they lost the ball.

Dundee were so much on top that a sixth goal looked likely. Nicky Riley sent a lovely chip over Hutton from 18 yards, but the ball bounced back from the crossbar.

The sixth goal duly arrived when Elliot's angled shot was cleared off the line by McLaughlin, but only as far as Gavin RAE, who blasted it back into the roof of the net.

Surprisingly, Accies managed to conjure up a goal that was by far the best thing they did all day. IMRIE ran across the face of the penalty area and hit a great rising shot into Douglas's top corner. Seldom has such a fine goal been met with such indifference; the few remaining home fans could hardly be bothered to cheer.

Usually sponsors' man of the match awards are reserved for home players. This time it was given to Steven Milne. At the end the Dundee players went to take the delighted applause of the supporters, and then went down the tunnel with huge grins, acknowledging the equally delighted applause of the supporters who happen to be directors and on the website team.

This was a marvellous day out for the supporters, who were singing all the way back to the buses, and probably all the way back to Dundee.

The Dark Blues are brimming with confidence at the moment. That's five wins in a row, and the performances are becoming more impressive as this run goes on.

Earlier in the season Dundee were playing good football, but struggling to score. It was clear that the quality of their play was far better than the results, and there seemed every reason to hope that the team would click eventually.

I doubt if even the most optimistic Dundee supporter could have looked at these last two fixtures against Falkirk and Hamilton and thought that the Dee might be able to ram in 10 (TEN!) goals in the two games.

In blowing the Bairns and Accies away Dundee have played some great football, scored some delightful goals and shown the sort of strong character and winning mentality that bodes well for the rest of the season.

Match report written by James Christie - Official Dundee website