Falkirk 2
Dundee 0
League (Championship)

Match Report

Dundee slumped into second place in the Championship today, losing 2-0 and top spot to victors Falkirk. The Bairns were in charge throughout and were never in any danger of dropping points after Connor McGrandles' early opener. Rory Loy added a second midway through the second half. To compound the Dark Blues' misery Kyle Letheren was red carded on the stroke of half time. Dan Twardzik saved the resulting penalty with his first ever touch of the ball for Dundee. Apart from that the only glimmer of consolation was that Falkirk didn't win by the sort of margin their dominance would have deserved.

Following the disappointing performance against Livingston John Brown made five changes. New signings Christian Nadé and Stephen Hughes came into the starting line-up along with Kyle Benedictus, Willie Dyer and Iain Davidson. Only Jim McAlister kept his place from the midfield and attack against Livi, with McBride, Rae, Conroy, Boyle and Wighton dropping onto the bench.

Gallagher and Benedictus were at centre back, with Lockwood the free man behind them. Irvine and Dyer played as wing backs, with a central midfield of Hughes, Davidson and McAlister.

Reverting to the 3-5-2 formation that Dundee tried early in the season was a disappointing failure. In the 30 minutes till the Dark Blues switched to the usual 4-4-2 they were wide open down the flanks and offered no threat up front.

The early signs were ominous. Duffie made space on the right and Letheren did well to save Alston's close range volley. On the other wing McGrandles' burst clear. His deflected cross was parried by Letheren and Dyer blocked Loy's follow up.

It was no surprise when Dundee's vulnerability at the back cost them a goal. After 18 minutes Benedictus slipped, allowing Roberts to run clear down the right. McGRANDLES took his cross and crashed the opening goal in off the post from 12 yards.

The Bairns were comfortably in control and should have made it 2-0 when Millar played a neat exchange with Loy, but with the goal gaping he placed his shot too close to Letheren, who turned it wide for a corner.

Dundee now switched to 4-4-2, with Lockwood moving to left back and Dyer to left midfield. Irvine dropped back to play as an orthodox right back and Hughes moved to right midfield.

The changes made Dundee more secure at the back, but they were still utterly toothless in attack. MacDonald and Nadé received dreadful service from a midfield that could neither worry the Falkirk defence nor protect the Dark Blues' own rearguard.

The Dark Blues' hopes rested on reaching the half time interval only a goal in arrears, with the chance to reorganise for the second half. Sadly things got even worse in the last minute of the first half.

Kyle Benedictus slipped again, allowing Loy to run clear. He took the ball round Letheren, who brought him down. Referee Mr Madden produced his red card and the Dark Blues' slender hopes of getting anything from the match vanished.

Christian Nadé was the unfortunate player to be sacrificed to allow substitute keeper Dan Twardzik to take his place in goal. It wasn't a happy debut for Nadé who'd had no opportunity to show what he could do in a poor team display.

Twardzik gave the Dark Blues support something to cheer at last by diving left to block Loy's weak penalty, but that was the last moment the fans had any cause to smile.

Gavin Rae came on at half time, replacing Stephen Hughes, and Jim McAlister moved to right midfield.

Falkirk should have extended their lead within 20 seconds of the restart. Benedictus misjudged a bouncing ball, and Roberts ran in on goal. He seemed sure to score, but carelessly dragged his shot wide.

The half time change made little difference to the Dark Blues. McAlister perked up the right side of the team, but Dundee missed his drive in the middle.

Peter MacDonald worked tirelessly chasing optimistic long balls, but he was denied any effective support and could do nothing on on his own.

Falkirk were in cruise control and embarrassingly comfortable at this stage. Twardzik was kept busy with a succession of shots from distance and around the edge of the penalty area. The only criticism that could be made of Falkirk was that they showed a certain carelessness in the final third, and were content to take pot shots rather than drive through the Dundee defence.

Roberts did pass up a golden close range chance when he wastefully flicked a cross well wide. However, he made amends when he raced down the left and whipped a dangerous low cross into the goal mouth. LOY timed his run perfectly and couldn't miss from three yards; 2-0 and the game was over.

Peter MacDonald sent a free kick wide from 20 yards. He then played substitute Martin Boyle in to shoot from an angle, but McGovern spread himself well to save. Apart from those efforts Dundee could point only to a Gallagher header that drifted wide following a corner and a couple of wild shots from MacDonald and Irvine.

The Bairns saw out the match easily, content to settle for a two goal win rather than punishing the Dark Blues more severely. Dundee played poorly and lost badly at Falkirk in September. If anything this was a worse performance today. In the previous match Dundee created good early chances. Today Dundee didn't even have a shot, or an attack worth reporting till the game was out of reach.

There was a very healthy turn out of 913 Dundee supporters in today's crowd. Every single one of them must have felt let down by this performance. Sadly Dundee got just about everything wrong today and Falkirk were superior in every respect.

Match report written by James Christie - Official Dundee website