Dundee 1
Cowdenbeath 2
League (Championship)

Match Report

Dundee's stay at the top of the Championship lasted only seven days as they dropped tamely back into second place, losing 2-1 to Cowdenbeath at Dens Park today. The Dark Blues were poor all over the pitch and let themselves and the fans down. Dundee had a huge escape in the first half when Kyle Letheren saved Kane Hemmings' penalty. The Cowdenbeath striker made amends early in the second half, taking advantage of defensive confusion to put the visitors ahead. Jim McAlister equalised but Dundee's defence gifted Jordan Morton a second goal and Cowdenbeath held on with with worrying ease to earn a well deserved win.

Not surprisngly John Brown fielded an unchanged line up but the players who had reached the top of the table never looked at ease against the team who are second from bottom.

Dundee's best spell of the match was the opening 20 minutes. Without being truly convincing they were able to work the ball into dangerous positions and create a couple of chances.

Craig Beattie took Riley's cross in his stride and his fierce shot spun off Armstong and wide. An excellent Lockwood cross then found Beattie at the far post but his header flew across goal, just missing the far post and MacDonald's lunge to try and turn the ball in. Sadly that was as good as it got for Dundee and their game gradually disintegrated.

The Dark Blues were very fortunate to escape a spell of sloppiness that gave Cowdenbeath a penalty midway through the half. Stewart showed neat skill on the right and his cross caused confusion in the home defence. The ball wasn't cleared and Gary Irvine handled Robertson's shot. Nobody was arguing with Mr Salmond when he pointed to the spot. Luckily for Dundee, Kane Hemmings' penalty was too close to Kyle Letheren, who saved well.

Dundee were soon back on the attack and Gavin Rae's 20 yard shot flashed narrowly wide. However, there was a lack of conviction and cohesion about Dundee's attacks. They were finding it difficult to play their way through Cowdenbeath's deep midfield and five man defence. Too many moves broke down with Dundee losing possession as they tried to play their way through to goal.

The Dee's problems allowed Cowdenbeath to grow in confidence and Letheren had to turn a Stewart shot round the post after a fast break.

The half time break brought no improvement and Cowdenbeath rocked the Dark Blues with their aggressive start to the second half. Brett's cross from the right was headed powerfully against the crossbar by Miller. Dundee didn't learn from that mistake and gave away a terrible goal after 52 minutes.

Hemmings' cross from the left wasn't cleared, and Letheren had to parry Robertson's follow up shot. Iain Davidson had time to clear but seemed unaware Kane HEMMINGS was on his shoulder and was horrified to see the visiting striker nick the ball away from him and shoot into the empty goal.

This should have been the signal for Dundee to step up their game and put the relegation strugglers under serious pressure. Sadly the Dee couldn't do that. Peter MacDonald did have one half chance, heading a Riley cross wide.

At last, midway through the half Dundee put together a fluent and incisive move. Jim McALISTER powered through the middle, exchanged passes with Riley and scored with a cracking low shot from 20 yards.

Surely now Dundee would push on for a win? It didn't happen. Craig Beattie had the chance to get clear of the defence, but lost control of the ball on the edge of the area.

The Dark Blues defence may have looked a mess for the penalty and opening goal, but they plumbed new depths with the fiasco that allowed Cowdenbeath to score the winner. Declan Gallagher stretched to stop the ball going out for a corner, but set up Stewart to shoot. His shot was deflected and spun out to the right wing. Cowdenbeath kept pressing and Armstrong swung a high cross over that would normally have been easily cleared. Neither Gallagher nor Irvine were able to deal with it, allowing Jordan MORTON to take the ball and shoot past the helpless Letheren. Managers take deserved flak for getting tactics and team selection wrong, but the goals conceded today were a simple matter of players making terrible mistakes.

Martin Boyle had come on for Ryan Conroy with the score at 0-1. John Brown now took off both Beattie and MacDonald, sending on Carlo Monti and Leighton McIntosh. There wasn't even a glimmer of improvement. For all the frantic energy and rushing around, Dundee couldn't create any danger after Cowdenbeath's second. The ball flew around the visitors' penalty area, but never under control, and never with the defence in any real trouble. Grant Adam in the Cowdenbeath goal didn't have a save to make.

If anything Cowdenbeath looked more likely to score. Jim McAlister did well to track back to stop a dangerous run through the middle by Morton. Dundee's performance was summed up in injury time with two moves breaking down when wildly overhit passes flew out of play.

After fighting hard to reach the top of the table it was desperately disappointing that the Dark Blues surrendered top spot in such feeble style. The Dee's poor display may have been a welcome Christmas present for Cowdenbeath, but it was a massive let down for the home support.

Match report written by James Christie - Official Dundee website